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CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Bgents 

THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  COMPANY 

HEW  YORK 

THE  CUNNINGHAM,  CURTISS  &  WELCH  COMPANY 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE  CAMBRIDGE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 

THE  MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA 

TOKYO,  OSAKA,    ETOTO,  rUKCOEA,  SENDAI 

THE  MISSION  BOOK  COMPANY 

SHANGHAI 

KARLW.  HIERSEMANN 

LEIPZIG 


Chapters  in  Rural 
Progress 


BY 
KENYON  L.  BUTTERFIELD 

President  of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College 


mm 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


?>°)b5Z 


Copyright  igo7  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  February  igo8 

Second  Impression  June  igoo 

Third  Impression  May  ion 

Fourth  Impression  February  1913 

Fifth  Impression  October  1016 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois.  U.S.A. 


S44\ 


TO  MY  FATHER 
IRA  HOWARD  BUTTERFIELD 

WHOSE     CONSTANT     CONCERN     FOR     RURAL    WELFARE 
AND     LIFE-LONG     SERVICE     TO    RURAL     INTER- 
ESTS    HAVE    BEEN    ONE    OF    THE     CHIEF 
INCENTIVES      TO      THE       STUDIES 
LYING    BEHIND    THIS    BOOK 


PREFACE 

This  book  does  not  offer  a  complete  analysis 
of  the  rural  problem;  but  attempts,  in  general, 
to  present  some  of  the  more  significant  phases 
of  that  problem,  and,  in  particular,  to  describe 
.      some  of  the  agencies  at  work  in  solving  it. 
^    Several  of  the  chapters  were  originally  magazine 
articles,  and,  though  all  have  been  revised  and  in 
some  cases  entirely  rewritten,  they  have  the 
^    limitations   of  such   articles.     Other  chapters 
M    consist  of  more  formal  addresses.     Necessarily 
there  will  be  found  some  lack  of  uniformity  in 
P  style    and    in    method    of    presentation,    and 
\j  occasional  duplication  of  argument  or  statement. 
^     For  permission  to  use  articles,  in  whole  or  in 
<  part,  I  have  to  thank  the  editors  of  the  Chau- 
.  tauquan,  Arena,  Forum,  Review  of  Reviews, 
»  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Michigan  Alumnus, 
^  New  England  Farmer,   Cornell  Countryman; 
also  Professor  L.  R.  Taft,  superintendent  of 
Farmers'  Institutes  in  Michigan,  and  the  officers 
of  the  American  Civic  Association.    Two  chap- 
ters comprise  material  heretofore  unpublished. 


vu 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Study  of  Rural  Life 3 

II.  The  Problems  of  Progress     .....  11 

THE  OUTLOOK 

III.  The  Expansion  of  Farm  Life     ....  45 

IV.  The  New  Farmer 53 

V.   Culture  from  the  Corn-Lot 66 

AGENCIES  OF  PROGRESS 

VI.   Education  for  the  Farmer 77 

VII.  Farmers'  Institutes 92 

VIII.  The  Hesperia  Movement 104 

IX.  The  Rural  School  and  the  Community.     .  121- 

X.  The  Grange 136 

XL   Opportunities  for  Farm  Women      .     .     .  162 

XII.  The  Country  Church  and  Progress       .     .  170 

XIII.  A  Summary  of  Recent  Progress       .     .     .  183 

FORWARD  STEPS 

XIV.  The  Social  Side  of  the  Farm  Question  .     .  199 
XV.  The  Needs  of  New  England  Agriculture    .  204 

XVI.  An  Unfilled  Field  in  American  Education  .  216 

XVII.  Federation  for  Rural  Progress    ....  233 

iz 


INTRODUCTION 


»fi.  /    c 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  STUDY  OF  RURAL  LIFE 

The  American  farm  problem,  particularly  its 
sociological  aspect,  has  not  as  yet  had  the  atten- 
tion that  it  deserves  from  students .  Much  less 
have  the  questions  that  concern  rural  social 
advancement  found  the  popular  mind;  in 
truth,  the  general  city  public  has  not  been  deeply 
interested  in  the  farmer. 

But  there  seem  to  be  recent  indications  that 
the  sentiment  is  changing.  The  heated  dis- 
cussions in  New  England  about  Mr.  Hartt's 
interesting  clinic  over  a  decadent  hill-town,  the 
suggestive  fast-day  proclamation  of  Governor 
Rollins  of  New  Hampshire  a  few  years  ago,  the 
marvelous  development  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion, the  renewed  study  of  the  rural  school,  the 
wide-spread  and  growing  delight  in  country  life, 
have  all  aroused  an  interest  in  and  presage  a 
new  attention  to  rural  conditions.  This  is  well. 
The  sociologist  can  hardly  afford  to  omit  the 
rural  classes  from  the  scope  of  his  study,  espe- 
cially if  he  desires  to  investigate  the  practical 
phases  of  his  subject.    Moreover,  no  one  with 

3 


4  CHAPTERS  EST  RURAL  PROGRESS 

intelligent  notions  of  affairs  should  be  ignorant 
of  the  forces  that  control  rural  life. 

In  view  of  this  apparent  change  in  the  attitude 
of  people  toward  the  farm  problem,  it  may  not 
be  idle  to  suggest  some  possible  errors  that 
should  be  avoided  when  we  are  thinking  of  rural 
society.  The  student  will  doubtless  approach 
his  problem  fortified  against  misconceptions — he 
probably  has  thoughtfully  established  his  view- 
point. But  the  average  person  in  the  city  is 
likely  to  call  up  the  image  of  his  ancestral  home 
of  a  generation  ago,  if  he  were  born  in  the  coun- 
try, or,  if  not,  to  draw  upon  his  observations 
made  on  a  summer  vacation  or  on  casual  business 
trips  into  the  interior.  Or  he  takes  his  picture 
from  Shore  Acres  and  the  Old  Homestead.  In 
any  case  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  image  may 
be  faulty  and  as  a  consequence  his  appreciation 
of  present  conditions  wholly  inadequate.  Let 
us  consider  some  of  these  possible  sources  of 
misconception. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  not  fair  to  compare 
country  life  as  a  whole  with  the  best  city  condi- 
tions. This  is  often  done.  The  observer  usu- 
ally has  education,  culture,  leisure,  the  experience 
of  travel,  more  or  less  wealth;  his  acquaintance 
is  mostly  with  people  of  like  attainments.    When 


THE  STUDY  OF  RURAL  LIFE  5 

he  fails  to  find  a  rural  environment  that  corre- 
sponds in  some  degree  to  his  own  and  that  of  his 
friends,  he  is  quick  to  conclude  that  the  country- 
has  nothing  to  offer  him,  that  only  the  city 
ministers  to  the  higher  wants  of  man.  He  for- 
gets that  he  is  one  of  a  thousand  in  the  city,  and 
does  not  represent  average  city  life.  v^He  fails  to 
compare  the  average  country  conditions  with 
the  average  city  conditions,  manifestly  the  only 
fair  basis  for  comparison.  Or  he  may  err  still 
more  grievously.  He  may  set  opposite  each  other 
the  worst  country  conditions  and  the  better  city 
conditions.  He  ought  in  all  justice  to  balance 
country  slum  with  city  slum;  and  certainly  so 
if  he  insists  on  trying  to  find  palaces,  great 
libraries,  eloquent  preachers,  theaters,  and  rapid 
transit  in  each  rural  community.  City  life  goes 
to  extremes;  country  life,  while  varied,  is  more 
even.  In  the  country  there  is  little  of  large 
wealth,  luxury,  and  ease;  little  also  of  extreme 
poverty,  reeking  crime,  unutterable  filth,  moral 
sewage.  Farmers  are  essentially  a  middle  class 
and  no  comparison  is  fair  that  does  not  keep  this 
fact  ever  in  mind. 

We  sometimes  hear  the  expression,  "  Country 
life  is  so  barren — that  to  me  is  its  most  discourag- 
ing aspect."    Much  country  life  is  truly  barren; 


6  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

but  much  more  of  it  is  so  only  relatively  and  not 
essentially.  We  must  admit  that  civilization  is 
at  least  partially  veneer;  polish  does  wonders 
for  the  appearance  of  folks  as  well  as  of  furniture. 
But  while  the  beauty  of  "heart  of  oak"  is  en- 
hanced by  its  "finish,"  its  utility  is  not  destroyed 
by  a  failure  to  polish  it.  Now,  much  of  the  so- 
called  barrenness  of  country  life  is  the  oak  minus 
the  polish.  We  come  to  regard  polish  as  essen- 
tial; it  is  largely  relative.  And  not  only  may 
we  apply  the  wrong  standard  to  the  situation, 
but  our  eyes  may  deceive  us.  To  the  uninitiated 
a  clod  of  dry  earth  is  the  most  unpromising  of 
objects — it  is  cousin  to  the  stone,  and  the  type  of 
barrenness.  But  to  the  elect  it  is  pregnant  with 
the  possibilities  of  seed-time  and  harvest,  of  a  full 
fruitage,  of  abundance  and  content  for  man  and 
beast.  And  there  is  many  a  farm  home,  plain 
to  an  extreme,  devoid  of  the  veneer,  a  home  that 
to  the  man  of  the  town  seems  lacking  in  all  the 
things  that  season  life,  but  a  home  which  virtue, 
intelligence,  thrift,  and  courage  transform  into  a 
garden  of  roses  and  a  type  of  heaven.  I  do  not 
justify  neglect  of  the  finer  material  things  of  life, 
nor  plead  for  drab  and  homespun  as  passports 
to  the  courts  of  excellence;  but  I  insist  that  the 
plainness,  simple  living,  absence  of  luxury,  lack 


THE  STUDY  OF  RURAL  LIFE  7 

of  polish  that  may  be  met  with  in  the  country, 
do  not  necessarily  accompany  a  condition  barren 
of  the  essentials  of  the  higher  life. 

Sometimes  rural  communities  are  ridiculed 
because  of  the  trivial  nature  of  their  gossip, 
interests,  and  ambitions.  There  may  be  some 
justice  in  the  criticism,  though  the  situation  is 
pathetic  rather  than  humorous.  But  is  the 
charge  wholly  just?  In  comparing  country 
with  town  we  are  comparing  two  environments; 
necessarily,  therefore,  objects  of  gossip,  interests, 
and  ambitions  differ  therein.  We  expect  that. 
It  is  no  criticism  to  assert  that  fact.  The  test  is 
not  that  of  an  existing  difference,  but  of  an  essen- 
tial quality.  Is  not  Ben  Bolt's  new  top  buggy 
as  legitimate  a  topic  for  discussion  as  is  Arthur 
John  Smythe's  new  automobile  ?  Does  not  the 
price  of  wheat  mean  as  much  to  the  hard-work- 
ing grower  as  to  the  broker  who  may  never  see  a 
grain  of  it  ?  May  not  the  grove  at  Turtle  Lake 
yield  as  keen  enjoyment  as  do  the  continental 
forests  ?  Is  the  ambition  to  own  a  fine  farm  more 
ignoble  than  the  desire  to  own  shares  in  a  copper 
mine  ?  It  really  does  not  matter  so  much  what 
one  gossips  about  or  what  one's  delights  are  or 
what  the  carving  of  the  rungs  on  ambition's 
ladder;  the  vital  question  is  the  effect  of  these 


8  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

things  on  character.  Do  they  stunt  or  encourage 
the  inner  life  ?  It  must  be  admitted  that  coun- 
try people  do  not  always  accept  their  environing 
opportunities  for  enjoying  the  higher  life  of  mind 
and  heart.  But  do  they  differ  in  this  respect 
from  their  cousins  of  the  town  ? 

We  must  remember,  too,  that  this  is  a  large 
country,  and  that  a  study  of  rural  conditions  in  a 
certain  community,  township,  county,  state,  or  sec- 
tion may  not  give  us  the  correct  basis  upon  which 
to  determine  the  agricultural  status  of  the  country. 

Nor  must  we  make  the  mistake  of  confusing 
conservatism  and  decadence.  That  the  city 
will  in  many  particulars  always  progress  more 
rapidly  than  the  country  is  inevitable.  But 
speed  is  not  the  ultimate  criterion  of  a  full  life. 
Again  must  we  apply  the  test  whether  the  gain 
is  relative  or  essential.  Telephones,  free  mail 
delivery,  electric  car  lines,  operas,  great  libraries, 
cathedrals — all  come  to  the  city  first,  some 
of  them  solely  to  the  city.  The  country  cannot 
hope  to  be  other  than  inherently  conservative 
as  regards  such  institutions.  But  may  there  not 
be  found  such  adaptations  of  or  substitutes  for 
these  institutions  as  shall  not  only  preserve  the 
rural  community  from  decadence,  but,  indeed, 
build  if  up  into  strength,  beauty,  and  purity? 


THE  STUDY  OF  RURAL  LIFE  9 

Comparative  lack  of  identical  resources  need  not 
mean  poverty  of  attainment.  Let  us  agree  that 
relatively  the  country  will  lag  behind  the  town. 
Is  the  country  continually  gaining  in  those  things 
that  are  fundamentally  important  and  that 
minister  to  its  best  life  ?  is  the  kernal  question. 

Perhaps  the  most  common  error  in  studying 
rural  conditions  is  the  failure  to  distinguish  the 
vital  difference  between  the  urban  problem  and 
the  rural  problem.  Sociologically  the  city  problem 
is  that  of  congestion;  the  rural  problem  is  that  of 
isolation.  The  social  conditions  of  country  and 
city  are  wholly  different.  Institutions  that  succeed 
in  alleviating  social  disorders  in  the  town  may  or 
may  not  succeed  in  the  country — in  any  event 
they  must  be  adapted  to  country  needs.  This 
applies  to  organizations,  schools,  libraries,  social 
settlements.  And  the  adaptation  must  be  one 
not  only  of  form  but  of  spirit.  In  other  words, 
the  farm  problem  is  a  peculiar  problem,  de- 
manding special  study,  a  new  point  of  view,  and 
sometimes  unique  institutions. 

Those  accustomed  to  large  cities  make  a 
pretty  broad  classification  of  "country."  A 
town  of  five  thousand  people  is  to  them  "coun- 
try." But  it  is  not  country.  The  problem  of 
the  village  and  the  small  town  is  not  the  rural 


io  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

problem,  take  it  the  nation  over.  The  smaller 
the  town,  the  more  nearly  it  approaches  to  rural 
conditions,  but  its  essential  problem  is  not  that  of 
the  farm. 

And,  finally,  let  no  one  suppose  that  philan- 
thropy is  the  chief  medicine  for  the  social  ill- 
health  of  the  country.  The  intelligent  student 
who  possesses  the  true  spirit  of  helpfulness  may 
find  in  the  rural  problem  ample  scope  for  both 
his  brain  and  his  heart.  But  he  will  make  a  fun- 
damental and  irreparable  error  if  he  starts  out 
with  the  notion  that  pity,  charity,  and  direct  gifts 
will  win  the  day.  You  may  flatter  the  American 
farmer;  you  cannot  patronize  him.  He  de- 
mands and  needs,  not  philanthropy,  but  simple 
justice,  equal  opportunity,  and  better  facilities  for 
education.     He  is  neither  slave  nor  pauper. 

To  conclude :  There  is  a  farm  problem,  and  it 
is  worth  solving.  But  it  differs  from  the  city 
problem.  And  if,  as  is  to  be  hoped,  the  recently 
renewed  interest  in  this  question  is  to  be  per- 
manent, we  trust  that  those  who  desire  to  make 
it  a  special  study,  as  well  as  those  whose  interest 
in  it  is  general  and  widely  human,  may  from 
the  start  avoid  the  errors  that  are  likely  to  ob- 
scure rural  conditions  when  viewed  through 
city  eyes. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS1 

It  is  impossible  to  acquire  a  keen  and  per- 
manent interest  in  the  rural  problem  unless  one 
first  of  all  is  cognizant  of  its  significance.  And 
lack  of  knowledge  at  this  point  may  in  part 
account  for  the  fact  already  alluded  to  that  in 
America  the  farm  problem  has  not  been  ade- 
quately studied.  So  stupendous  has  been  the 
development  of  our  manufacturing  industries, 
so  marvelous  the  growth  of  our  urban  population, 
so  pressing  the  questions  raised  by  modern  city 
life,  that  the  social  and  economic  interests  of  the 
American  farmer  have,  as  a  rule,  received  minor 
consideration.  We  are  impressed  with  the  rise 
of  cities  like  Chicago,  forgetting  for  the  moment 
that  half  of  the  American  people  still  live  under 
rural  conditions.  We  are  perplexed  by  the 
labor  wars  that  are  waged  about  us,  for  the  time 
unmindful  that  one-third  of  the  workers  of  this 
country  make  their  living  immediately  from  the 

1  The  material  for  this  chapter  is  taken  from  an  address  entitled 
"Social  Problems  of  American  Farmers,"  which  was  read  before 
the  Congress  of  Arts  and  Science,  section  of  The  Rural  Com- 
munity, at  St  Louis,  September,  1904. 

n 


12  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

soil.  We  are  astounded,  and  perhaps  alarmed, 
at  the  great  centralization  of  capital,  possibly 
not  realizing  that  the  capital  invested  in  agricul- 
ture in  the  United  States  nearly  equals  the  com- 
bined capital  invested  in  the  manufacturing  and 
railway  industries.  But  if  we  pause  to  consider 
the  scope  and  nature  of  the  economic  and 
social  interests  involved,  we  cannot  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  the  farm  problem  is  worthy  of 
serious  thought  from  students  of  our  national 
welfare. 

We  are  aware  that  agriculture  does  not  hold 
the  same  relative  rank  among  our  industries  that 
it  did  in  former  years,  and  that  our  city  popula- 
tion has  increased  far  more  rapidly  than  has  our 
rural  population.  We' do  not  ignore  the  fact 
that  urban  industries  are  developing  more 
rapidly  than  is  agriculture,  nor  deny  the  serious- 
ness of  the  actual  depletion  of  rural  population, 
and  even  of  community  decadence,  in  some 
portions  of  the  Union.  But  these  facts  merely 
add  to  the  importance  of  the  farm  question. 
And  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  there  has 
been  a  large  and  constant  growth  both  of  our 
agricultural  wealth  and  of  our  rural  population. 
During  the  last  half -century  there  was  a  gain  of 
500  per  cent,  in  the  value  of  farm  property,  while 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  13 

the  non-urban  population  increased  250  per 
cent.  Agriculture  has  been  one  of  the  chief 
elements  of  America's  industrial  greatness,  it  is 
still  our  dominant  economic  interest,  and  it  will 
long  remain  at  least  a  leading  industry.  The 
people  of  the  farm  have  furnished  a  sturdy 
citizenship  and  have  been  the  primary  source  of 
much  of  our  best  leadership  in  political,  business, 
and  professional  life.  For  an  indefinite  future, 
a  large  proportion  of  the  American  people  will 
continue  to  live  in  a  rural  environment. 

WHAT  IS  THE  FARM  PROBLEM  ? 

Current  agricultural  discussion  would  lead  us 
to  think  that  the  farm  problem  is  largely  one  of 
technique.  The  possibilities  of  the  agricultural 
industry,  in  the  light  of  applied  science,  empha- 
size the  need  of  the  farmer  for  more  complete 
knowledge  of  soil  and  plant  and  animal,  and 
for  increased  proficiency  in  utilizing  this  knowl- 
edge to  secure  greater  production  at  less  cost. 
This  is  a  fundamental  need.  It  lies  at  the  basis 
of  success  in  farming.  But  it  is  not  the  farm 
problem. 

Business  skill  must  be  added,  business 
methods  enforced.  The  farmer  must  be  not  only 
a  more  skilful  produce-grower,  but  also  a  keener 


14  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

produce-seller.  But  the  moment  we  enter  the 
realm  of  the  market  we  step  outside  the  individu- 
alistic aspect  of  the  problem  as  embodied  in  the 
current  doctrine  of  technical  agricultural  teach- 
ing, and  are  forced  to  consider  the  social  aspect 
as  emphasized,  first  of  all,  in  the  economic 
category  of  price.  Here  we  find  many  factors — 
transportation  cost,  general  market  conditions 
at  home  and  abroad,  the  status  of  other  indus- 
tries, and  even  legislative  activities.  The  farm 
problem  becomes  an  industrial  question,  not 
solely  one  of  technical  and  business  skill. 
Moreover,  the  problem  is  one  of  a  successful 
industry  as  a  whole,  not  merely  the  personal 
successes  of  even  a  respectable  number  of  indi- 
vidual farmers.  The  farming  class  must  pro- 
gress as  a  unit. 

But  have  we  yet  reached  the  heart  of  the 
question  ?  Is  the  farm  problem  one  of  technique 
plus  business  skill,  plus  these  broad  economic 
considerations  ?  Is  it  not  perfectly  possible  that 
agriculture  as  an  industry  may  remain  in  a  fairly 
satisfactory  condition,  and  yet  the  farming  class 
fail  to  maintain  its  status  in  the  general  social 
order  ?  Is  it  not,  for  instance,  quite  within  the 
bounds  of  probability  to  imagine  a  good  degree 
of  economic  strength  in  the  agricultural  industry 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  15 

existing  side  by  side  with  either  a  peasant  regime 
or  a  landlord-and-tenant  system?  Yet  would 
we  expect  from  either  system  the  same  social 
fruitage  that  has  been  harvested  from  our 
American  yeomanry  ? 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  farm  problem 
consists  in  maintaining  upon  our  farms  a  class 
of  people  who  have  succeeded  in  procuring  for 
themselves  the  highest  possible  class  status,  not 
only  in  the  industrial,  but  in  the  political  and 
the  social  order — a  relative  status,  moreover,  that 
is  measured  by  the  demands  of  American  ideals* 
The  farm  problem  thus  connects  itself  with  the 
whole  question  of  democratic  civilization.  This 
is  not  mere  platitude.  For  we  cannot  properly 
judge  the  significance  and  the  relation  of  the 
different  industrial  activities  of  our  farmers,  and 
especially  the  value  of  the  various  social  agencies 
for  rural  betterment,  except  by  the  standard  of 
class  status.  It  is  here  that  we  seem  to  find  the 
only  satisfactory  philosophy  of  rural  progress. 

We  would  not  for  a  moment  discredit  the 
fundamental  importance  of  movements  that 
have  for  their  purpose  the  improved  technical 
skill  of  our  farmers,  better  business  management 
of  the  farm,  and  wiser  study  and  control  of 
market    conditions.    Indeed,    we    would    call 


16  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

attention  to  the  fact  that  social  institutions  are 
absolutely  necessary  means  of  securing  these 
essential  factors  of  industrial  success.  In  the 
solution  of  the  farm  problem  we  must  deliber- 
ately invoke  the  influence  of  quickened  means  of 
communication,  of  co-operation  among  farmers, 
of  various  means  of  education,  and  possibly  even 
of  religious  institutions,  to  stimulate  and  direct  in- 
dustrial activity.  What  needs  present  emphasis 
is  the  fact  that  there  is  a  definite,  real,  social  end 
to  be  held  in  view  as  the  goal  of  rural  endeavor. 
The  highest  possible  social  status  for  the  farming 
class  is  that  end. 

We  may  now,  as  briefly  as  possible,  describe 
some  of  the  difficulties  that  lie  in  the  path  of  the 
farmers  in  their  ambition  to  attain  greater  class 
efficiency  and  larger  class  influence,  and  some 
of  the  means  at  hand  for  minimizing  the  diffi- 
culties. A  complete  discussion  of  the  farm 
problem  should,  of  course,  include  thorough 
consideration  of  the  technical,  the  business,  and 
the  economic  questions  implied  by  the  struggle 
for  industrial  success;  for  industrial  success  is 
prerequisite  to  the  achievement  of  the  greatest 
social  power  of  the  farming  class.  But  we 
shall  consider  only  the  social  aspects  of  the 
problem. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  17 

RURAL  ISOLATION 

Perhaps  the  one  great  underlying  social  diffi- 
culty among  American  farmers  is  their  compara- 
tively isolated  mode  of  life.  The  farmer's 
family  is  isolated  from  other  families.  A  small 
city  of  perhaps  twenty  thousand  population  will 
contain  from  four  hundred  to  six  hundred 
families  per  square  mile,  whereas  a  typical 
agricultural  community  in  a  prosperous  agricul- 
tural state  will  hardly  average  more  than  ten 
families  per  square  mile.  The  farming  class  is 
isolated  from  other  classes.  Farmers,  of  course, 
mingle  considerably  in  a  business  and  political 
way  with  the  men  of  their  trading  town  and 
county  seat;  but,  broadly  speaking,  farmers  do 
not  associate  freely  with  people  living  under 
urban  conditions  and  possessing  other  than  the 
rural  point  of  view.  It  would  be  venturesome 
to  suggest  very  definite  generalizations  with 
respect  to  the  precise  influence  of  these  condi- 
tions, because,  so  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  the 
psychology  of  isolation  has  not  been  worked  out. 
But  two  or  three  conclusions  seem  to  be  admis- 
sible, and  for  that  matter  rather  generally 
accepted. 

The  well-known  conservatism  of  the  farming 
class  is  doubtless  largely  due  to  class  isolation. 


18  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

Habits,  ideas,  traditions,  and  ideals  have  long 
life  in  the  rural  community.  Changes  come 
slowly.  There  is  a  tendency  to  tread  the  well- 
worn  paths.  The  farmer  does  not  easily  keep 
in  touch  with  rapid  modern  development,  unless 
the  movements  or  methods  directly  affect  him. 
Physical  agencies  which  improve  social  condi- 
tions, such  as  electric  lights,  telephones,  and 
pavements,  come  to  the  city  first.  The  atmos- 
phere of  the  country  speaks  peace  and  quiet. 
Nature's  routine  of  sunshine  and  storm,  of 
summer  and  winter,  encourages  routine  and 
repetition  in  the  man  who  works  with  her. 

A  complement  of  this  rural  conservatism, 
which  at  first  thought  seems  a  paradox,  but 
which  probably  grows  out  of  these  same  condi- 
tions of  isolation,  is  the  intense  radicalism  of  a 
rural  community  when  once  it  breaks  away  from 
its  moorings.  Many  farmers  are  unduly  suspi- 
cious of  others'  motives;  yet  the  same  people 
often  succumb  to  the  wiles  of  the  charlatan, 
whether  medical  or  political.  Farmers  are 
usually  conservative  in  politics  and  intensely 
loyal  to  party ;  but  the  Populist  movement  indi- 
cates the  tendency  to  extremes  when  the  old 
allegiance  is  left  behind.  Old  methods  of  farm- 
ing   may    be    found    alongside    ill-considered 


> 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  19 

attempts  to  raise  new  crops  or  to  utilize  untried 
machines. 

Other  effects  of  rural  isolation  are  seen  in  a 
class  provincialism  that  is  hard  to  eradicate, 
and  in  the  development  of  minds  less  alert  to 
seize  business  advantages  and  less  far-sighted 
than  are  developed  by  the  intense  industrial 
life  of  the  town.  There  is  time  to  brood  over 
wrongs,  real  and  imaginary.  Personal  preju- 
dices often  grow  to  be  rank  and  coarse-fibered. 
Neighborhood  feuds  are  not  uncommon  and  are 
often  virulent.  Leadership  is  made  difficult 
and  sometimes  impossible.  It  is  easy  to  fall  into 
personal  habits  that  may  mark  off  the  farmer 
from  other  classes  of  similar  intelligence,  and 
that  bar  him  from  his  rightful  social  place. 

It  would,  however,  be  distinctly  unfair  to  the 
farm  community  if  we  did  not  emphasize  some 
of  the  advantages  that  grow  out  of  the  rural 
mode  of  life.  Farmers  have  time  to  think,  and 
the  typical  American  farmer  is  a  man  who  has 
thought  much  and  often  deeply.  A  spirit  of 
sturdy  independence  is  generated,  and  freedom 
of  will  and  of  action  is  encouraged.  Family 
life  is  nowhere  so  educative  as  in  the  country. 
The  whole  family  co-operates  for  common  ends, 
and  in  its  individual  members  are  bred  the 


20  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

qualities  of  industry,  patience,  and  perseverance. 
The  manual  work  of  the  schools  is  but  a  make- 
shift for  the  old-fashioned  training  of  the  coun- 
try-grown boy.  Country  life  is  an  admirable 
preparation  for  the  modern  industrial  and 
professional  career. 

Nevertheless,  rural  isolation  is  a  real  evil. 
Present-day  living  is  so  distinctively  social, 
progress  is  so  dependent  upon  social  agencies, 
social  development  is  so  rapid,  that  if  the  farmer 
is  to  keep  his  status  he  must  be  fully  in  step  with 
the  rest  of  the  army.  He  must  secure  the  social 
view-point.  The  disadvantages  of  rural  isola- 
tion are  largely  in  the  realm  of  the  social  rela- 
tions, its  advantages  mostly  on  the  individual 
and  moral  side.  Farm  life  makes  a  strong 
individual ;  it  is  a  serious  menace  to  the  achieve- 
ment of  class  power. 

A  cure  for  isolation  sometimes  suggested  is 
the  gathering  of  the  farmers  into  villages.  This 
remedy,  however,  is  of  doubtful  value.  In  the 
first  place,  the  scheme  is  not  immediately  practi- 
cable. About  three  and  one-half  billions  of 
dollars  are  now  invested  in  farm  buildings,  and 
it  will  require  some  motive  more  powerful  than 
that  inspired  by  academic  logic  to  transfer,  even 
gradually,   this   investment  to   village  groups. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  21 

Moreover,  it  is  possible  to  dispute  the  desir- 
ability of  the  remedy.  The  farm  village  at  best 
must  be  a  mere  hamlet.  It  can  secure  for  the 
farmer  very  few  of  the  urban  advantages  he  may 
want,  except  that  of  permitting  closer  daily  inter- 
course between  families.  And  it  is  questionable 
if  the  petty  society  of  such  a  village  can  com- 
pensate for  the  freedom  and  purity  of  rural 
family  life  now  existing.  It  may  even  be  as- 
serted with  some  degree  of  positiveness  that  the 
small  village,  on  the  moral  and  intellectual  sides, 
is  distinctly  inferior  to  the  isolated  farm  home. 

At  the  present  time  rural  isolation  in  America 
is  being  overcome  by  the  development  of  better 
means  of  communication  among  farmers  who 
still  live  on  their  farms.  So  successful  are  these 
means  of  communication  proving  that  we  cannot 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  herein  lies  the  remedy. 
Improved  wagon  roads,  the  rural  free  mail 
delivery,  the  farm  telephone,  trolley  lines  through 
country  districts,  are  bringing  about  a  positive 
revolution  in  country  living.  They  are  curing 
the  evils  of  isolation,  without  in  the  slightest 
degree  robbing  the  farm  of  its  manifest  advan- 
tages for  family  life.  The  farmers  are  being 
welded  into  a  more  compact  society.  They  are 
being  nurtured  to  greater  alertness  of  mind,  to 


22  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

greater  keenness  of  ^observation,  and  the  founda- 
tions are  being  laid  for  vastly  enlarged  social 
activities.  The  problem  now  is  to  extend  these 
advantages  to  every  rural  community — in  itself 
a  task  of  huge  proportions.  If  this  can  be  done 
and  isolation  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum,  the 
solution  of  all  the  other  rural  social  problems 
will  become  vastly  easier. 

farmers'  organization 

Organization  is  one  of  the  pressing  social 
problems  that  American  farmers  have  to  face. 
The  importance  of  the  question  is  intrinsic, 
because  of  the  general  social  necessity  for  co- 
operation which  characterizes  modern  life. 
Society  is  becoming  consciously  self-directive. 
The  immediate  phase  of  this  growing  self -direc- 
tion lies  in  the  attempts  of  various  social  groups 
to  organize  their  powers  for  group  advantage. 
And  if,  as  seems  probable,  this  group  activity  is 
to  remain  a  dominant  feature  of  social  progress, 
even  in  a  fairly  coherent  society,  it  is  manifest 
that  there  will  result  more  or  less  of  competition 
among  groups. 

The  farming  class,  if  at  all  ambitious  for  group 
influence,  can  hardly  avoid  this  tendency  to 
organization.    Farmers,  indeed  more  than  any 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  23 

other  class,  need  to  organize.  Their  isolation 
makes  thorough  organization  especially  impera- 
tive. And  the  argument  for  co-operation  gains 
force  from  the  fact  that  relatively  the  agricultural 
population  is  declining.  In  the  old  days  farmers 
ruled  because  of  mere  mass.  That  is  no  longer 
possible.  The  naive  statement  that  "farmers 
must  organize  because  other  classes  are  organiz- 
ing" is  really  good  social  philosophy. 

In  the  group  competition  just  referred  to  there 
is  a  tendency  for  class  interests  to  be  put  above 
general  social  welfare.  This  is  a  danger  to  be 
avoided  in  organization,  not  an  argument  against 
it.  So  the  farmers'  organization  should  be* 
guarded,  at  this  point,  by  adherence  to  the 
principle  that  organization  must  not  only  develop 
class  power,  but  must  be  so  directed  as  to  permit 
the  farmers  to  lend  the  full  strength  of  their  class 
to  general  social  progress. 

Organization  thus  becomes  a  test  of  class 
efficiency,  and  consequently  a  prerequisite  for 
solving  the  farm  problem.  Can  the  farming 
class  secure  and  maintain  a  fairly  complete  or- 
ganization? Can  it  develop  efficient  leaders? 
Can  it  announce,  in  sound  terms,  its  proposed 
group  policy  ?  Can  it  lend  the  group  influence 
to  genuine  social  progress  ?    If  so,  the  organiza- 


24  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

tion  of  farmers  becomes  a  movement  of  pre- 
eminent importance. 

Organization,  moreover,  is  a  powerful  edu- 
cational force.  It  arouses  discussion  of  funda- 
mental questions,  diffuses  knowledge,  gives 
practice  in  public  affairs,  trains  individuals  in 
executive  work,  and,  in  fine,  stimulates,  as 
nothing  else  can,  a  class  which  is  in  special  need 
of  social  incentive. 

Organization  is,  however,  difficult  of  accom- 
plishment. While  it  would  take  us  too  far  afield 
to  discuss  the  history  of  farmers'  organizations 
in  America,  we  may  briefly  suggest  some  of  the 
difficulties  involved.  For  forty  years  the  question 
has  been  a  prominent  one  among  the  farmers, 
and  these  years  have  seen  the  rise  and  decline 
of  several  large  associations.  There  have  been 
apparently  two  great  factors  contributing  to  the 
downfall  of  these  organizations.  The  first  was 
a  misapprehension,  on  the  part  of  the  farmers, 
of  the  feasibility  of  organizing  themselves  as  a 
political  phalanx;  the  second,  a  sentimental 
belief  in  the  possibilities  of  business  co-operation 
among  farmers,  more  especially  in  lines  outside 
their  vocation.  There  is  no  place  for  class 
politics  in  America.  There  are  some  things 
legislation    cannot    cure.    There    are    serious 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  25 

limitations  to  co-operative  endeavor.  It  took 
many  hard  experiences  for  our  farmers  to  learn 
these  truths.  But  back  of  all  lie  some  inherent 
difficulties,  as,  for  instance,  the  number  of  people 
involved,  their  isolation,  sectional  interests,  in- 
grained habits  of  independent  action,  of  indi- 
vidual initiative,  of  suspicion  of  others'  motives. 
There  is  often  lack  of  perspective,  and  unwill- 
ingness to  invest  in  a  procedure  that  does  not 
promise  immediate  returns.  The  mere  fact  of 
failure  has  discredited  the  organization  idea. 
There  is  lack  of  leadership ;  for  the  farm  industry, 
while  it  often  produces  men  of  strong  mind,  keen 
perception,  resolute  will,  does  not,  as  a  rule, 
develop  executive  capacity  for  large  enterprises. 
It  is  frequently  asserted  that  farmers  are  the 
only  class  that  has  not  organized.  This  is  not 
strictly  true.  The  difficulties  enumerated  are 
real  difficulties  and  have  seriously  retarded  farm 
organization.  But  if  the  progress  made  is  not 
satisfactory,  it  is  at  least  encouraging.  On  the 
purely  business  side,  over  five  thousand  co- 
operative societies  among  American  farmers 
have  been  reported.  In  co-operative  buying  of 
supplies,  co-operative  selling  of  products,  and 
co-operative  insurance  the  volume  of  transac- 
tions reaches  large  figures.    A  host  of  societies 


26  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  a  purely  educational  nature  exists  among 
stock-breeders,  fruit-growers,  dairymen.  It  is 
true  that  no  one  general  organization  of  farmers, 
embracing  a  large  proportion  of  the  class,  has 
as  yet  been  perfected.  The  nearest  approach 
to  it  is  the  Grange,  which,  contrary  to  a  popular 
notion,  is  in  a  prosperous  condition,  with  a  really 
large  influence  upon  the  social,  financial,  educa- 
tional, and  legislative  interests  of  the  farming 
class.  It  has  had  a  steady  growth  during  the 
past  ten  years,  and  is  a  quiet  but  powerful  factor 
in  rural  progress.  The  Grange  is  perhaps  too 
conservative  in  its  administrative  policy.  It  has 
not  at  least  succeeded  in  converting  to  its  fold 
the  farmers  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley. 
But  it  has  workable  machinery,  it  disavows 
partisan  politics  and  selfish  class  interests,  and 
it  subordinates  financial  benefits,  while  empha- 
sizing educational  and  broadly  political  ad- 
vantages. It  seems  fair  to  interpret  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Grange  as  wholly  in  line  with  the 
premise  of  this  paper,  that  the  farmers  need  to 
preserve  their  status,  politically,  industrially,  and 
socially,  and  that  organization  is  one  of  the 
fundamental  methods  they  must  use.  The 
Grange,  therefore,  deserves  to  succeed,  and 
indeed  is  succeeding. 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  27 

The  field  of  agricultural  organization  is  an 
extensive  one.  But  if  the  farm  problem  is  to  be 
solved  satisfactorily,  the  American  farmers  must 
first  secure  reasonably  complete  organization. 

RURAL  EDUCATION 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  assert  that  the  educa- 
tion of  that  portion  of  the  American  people  who 
live  upon  the  land  involves  a  question  of  the 
greatest  significance.  The  subject  naturally 
divides  itself  into  two  phases,  one  of  which  may 
be  designated  as  rural  education  proper,  the 
other  as  agricultural  education.  Rural  educa- 
tion has  to  do  with  the  education  of  people,  more 
especially  of  the  young,  who  live  under  rural 
conditions;  agricultural  education  aims  to 
prepare  men  and  women  for  the  specific  voca- 
tion of  agriculture.  The  rural  school  typifies 
the  first;  the  agricultural  school,  the  second. 
Rural  education  is  but  a  section  of  the  general 
school  question;  agricultural  education  is  a 
branch  of  technical  training.  These  two  phases 
of  the  education  of  the  farm  population  meet  at 
many  points,  they  must  work  in  harmony,  and 
together  they  form  a  distinct  educational  prob- 
lem. 

The  serious  difficulties  in  the  rural  school 


28  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

question  are  perhaps  three:  first,  to  secure  a 
modern  school,  in  efficiency  somewhat  compar- 
able to  the  town  school,  without  unduly  increas- 
ing the  school  tax;  second,  so  to  enrich  the 
curriculum  and  so  to  expand  the  functions  of 
the  school  that  the  school  shall  become  a  vital 
and  coherent  part  of  the  community  life,  on  the 
one  hand  translating  the  rural  environment 
into  terms  of  character  and  mental  efficiency, 
and  on  the  other  hand  serving  perfectly  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  the  city  schools  and  to  urban 
careers;  third,  to  provide  adequate  high-school 
facilities  in  the  rural  community. 

The  centralization  of  district  schools  and  the 
transportation  of  pupils  will  probably  prove  to 
be  more  nearly  a  solution  of  all  these  difficulties 
than  will  any  other  one  scheme.  The  plan  per- 
mits the  payment  of  higher  wages  for  teachers 
and  ought  to  secure  better  instruction ;  it  permits 
the  employment  of  special  teachers,  as  for  nature- 
study  or  agriculture;  it  increases  the  efficiency 
of  superintendence;  it  costs  but  little,  if  any, 
more  than  the  district  system;  it  leaves  the 
school  amid  rural  surroundings,  while  intro- 
ducing into  the  schoolroom  itself  a  larger  volume, 
so  to  speak,  of  world-atmosphere;  it  contains 
possibilities  for  community  service ;  it  can  easily 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  29 

be  expanded  into  a  high  school  of  reputable 
grade. 

There  are  two  dangers,  both  somewhat  grave, 
likely  to  arise  from  an  urgent  campaign  for 
centralization.  Even  if  the  movement  makes 
as  great  progress  as  could  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected, for  a  generation  to  come  a  large  share, 
if  not  a  major  portion,  of  rural  pupils  will  still 
be  taught  in  the  small,  isolated,  district  school; 
there  is  danger  that  this  district  school  may  be 
neglected.  Moreover,  increased  school  machin- 
ery always  invites  undue  reliance  upon  machine- 
like methods.  Centralization  permits,  but  does 
not  guarantee,  greater  efficiency.  A  system  like 
this  one  must  be  vitalized  by  constant  and  close 
touch  with  the  life  and  needs  and  aspirations  of 
the  rural  community  itself. 

Wherever  centralization  is  not  adopted,  the 
consolidation  of  two  or  three  schools — a  modified 
form  of  centralization — may  prove  helpful. 
Where  the  district  school  still  persists,  there  are 
one  or  two  imperative  requirements.  Teachers 
must  have  considerably  higher  wages  and 
longer  tenure.  There  must  be  more  efficient 
supervision.  The  state  must  assist  in  support- 
ing the  school,  although  only  in  part.  The 
small  schools  must  be  correlated  with  some  form 


30        s    CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  high  school.  The  last  point  is  of  great  im- 
portance because  of  the  comparative  absence  in 
country  communities  of  opportunity  near  at 
hand  for  good  high-school  training. 

Agricultural  education  is  distinctively  techni- 
cal, not  in  the  restricted  sense  of  mere  technique, 
or  even  of  applied  science,  but  in  the  sense  that 
it  must  be  frankly  vocational.  It  has  to  do  with 
the  preparation  of  men  and  women  for  the 
business  of  farming  and  for  life  in  the  rural 
community. 

Agricultural  education  should  begin  in  the 
primary  school.  In  this  school  the  point  of  view, 
however,  should  be  broadly  pedagogical  rather 
than  immediately  vocational.  Fortunately,  the 
wise  teaching  of  nature-study,  the  training  of 
pupils  to  know  and  to  love  nature,  the  constant 
illustrations  from  the  rural  environment,  the 
continual  appeal  to  personal  observation  and 
experience,  absolute  loyalty  to  the  farm  point 
of  view,  are  not  only  sound  pedagogy,  but  form 
the  best  possible  background  for  future  voca- 
tional study.  Whether  we  call  this  early  work 
"nature-study"  or  call  it  "agriculture"  matters 
less  than  that  the  fundamental  principle  be 
recognized.  It  must  first  of  all  educate.  The 
greatest  difficulty  in  introducing  such  work  into 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  31 

the  primary  school  is  to  secure  properly  equipped 
teachers. 

Perhaps  the  most  stupendous  undertaking  in 
agricultural  education  is  the  adequate  develop- 
ment of  secondary  education  in  agriculture. 
The  overwhelming  majority  of  young  people  who 
secure  any  agricultural  schooling  whatever 
must  get  it  in  institutions  that  academically  are 
of  secondary  grade.  This  is  a  huge  task.  If 
developed  to  supply  existing  needs,  it  will  call 
for  an  enormous  expenditure  of  money  and  for 
the  most  careful  planning.  From  the  teaching 
view-point  it  is  a  difficult  problem.  Modern 
agriculture  is  based  upon  the  sciences;  it  will 
not  do,  therefore,  to  establish  schools  in  the 
mere  art  of  farming.  But  these  agricultural 
high  schools  must  deal  with  pupils  who  are 
comparatively  immature,  and  who  almost  in- 
variably have  had  no  preparation  in  science. 
Nor  should  the  courses  at  these  schools  be  ultra- 
technical.  They  are  to  prepare  men  and  women 
for  life  on  the  farm — men  and  women  who  are 
to  lead  in  rural  development,  and  who  must 
get  some  inkling  at  least  of  the  real  farm  question 
and  its  solution.  The  agricultural  school, 
therefore,  presents  a  problem  of  great  difficulty. 

A  perennial  question  in  agricultural  education 


32  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

is:  What  is  the  function  of  the  agricultural 
college  ?  We  have  not  time  to  trace  the  history 
of  these  colleges,  nor  to  elaborate  the  various 
views  relative  to  their  mission.  But  let  us  for  a 
moment  discuss  their  proper  function  in  the 
light  of  the  proposition  that  the  preservation  of 
the  farmers'  status  is  the  real  farm  problem; 
for  the  college  can  be  justified  only  as  it  finds  its 
place  among  the  social  agencies  helpful  in  the 
solution  of  the  farm  question. 

In  so  far  as  the  agricultural  college,  through 
its  experiment  station  or  otherwise,  is  an  organ 
of  research,  it  should  carry  its  investigations 
into  the  economic  and  sociological  fields,  as  well 
as  pursue  experiments  in  soil  fertility  and 
animal  nutrition. 

In  the  teaching  of  students,  the  agricultural 
college  will  continue  the  important  work  of 
training  men  for  agricultural  research,  agricul- 
tural teaching,  and  expert  supervision  of  various 
agricultural  enterprises.  But  the  college  should 
put  renewed  emphasis  upon  its  ability  to  send 
well-trained  men  to  the  farms,  there  to  live  their 
lives,  there  to  find  their  careers,  and  there  to 
lead  in  the  movements  for  rural  progress.  A 
decade  ago  it  was  not  easy  to  find  colleges  which 
believed  that  this  could  be  done,  and  some  agri- 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  33 

cultural  educators  have  even  disavowed  such  a 
purpose  as  a  proper  object  of  the  colleges  But 
the  strongest  agricultural  colleges  today  have 
pride  in  just  such  a  purpose.  And  why  not? 
We  not  only  need  men  thus  trained  as  leaders  in 
every  rural  community,  but,  if  the  farming  busi- 
ness cannot  be  made  to  offer  a  career  to  a  reason- 
able number  of  college-trained  men,  it  is  a  sure 
sign  that  only  by  the  most  herculean  efforts  can 
the  farmers  maintain  their  status  as  a  class.  If 
agriculture  must  be  turned  over  wholly  to  the 
untrained  and  to  the  half-trained,  if  it  cannot 
satisfy  the  ambition  of  strong,  well-educated  men 
and  women,  its  future,  from  the  social  point  of 
view,  is  indeed  gloomy. 

The  present-day  course  of  study  in  the  agri- 
cultural college  does  not,  however,  fully  meet 
this  demand  for  rural  leadership.  The  farm 
problem  has  been  regarded  as  a  technical  ques- 
tion, and  a  technical  training  has  been  offered 
the  student.  The  agricultural  college,  therefore, 
needs  "socializing."  Agricultural  economics 
and  rural  sociology  should  occupy  a  large  place 
in  the  curriculum.  The  men  who  go  from  the 
college  to  the  farm  should  appreciate  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  agricultural  question,  and  should 
be  trained  to  organize  their  forces  for  genuine 


34  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

rural  progress.  The  college  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  become  the  leader  in  the  whole  move- 
ment for  solving  the  farm  problem. 

The  farm  home  has  not  come  in  for  its  share 
of  attention  in  existing  schemes  of  agricultural 
education.  The  kitchen  and  the  dining-room 
have  as  much  to  gain  from  science  as  have  the 
dairy  and  the  orchard.  The  inspiration  of 
vocational  knowledge  must  be  the  possession  of 
her  who  is  the  entrepreneur  of  the  family,  the 
home-maker.  The  agricultural  colleges  through 
their  departments  of  domestic  science — better, 
of  "home-making" — should  inaugurate  a  com- 
prehensive movement  for  carrying  to  the  farm 
home  a  larger  measure  of  the  advantages 
which  modern  science  is  showering  upon 
humanity. 

The  agricultural  college  must  also  lead  in  a 
more  adequate  development  of  extension  teach- 
ing. Magnificent  work  has  already  been  done 
through  farmers'  institutes,  reading  courses, 
co-operative  experiments,  demonstrations,  and 
correspondence.  But  the  field  is  so  immense, 
the  number  of  people  involved  so  enormous, 
the  difficulties  of  reaching  them  so  many,  that  it 
offers  a  genuine  problem,  and  one  of  peculiar 
significance,  not  only  because  of  the  generally 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  35 

recognized  need  of  adult  education,  but  also 
because  of  the  isolation  of  the  farmers. 

It  should  be  said  that  in  no  line  of  rural  better- 
ment has  so  much  progress  been  made  in  America 
as  in  agricultural  education.  Merely  to  describe 
the  work  that  is  being  done  through  nature-study 
and  agriculture  in  the  public  schools,  through 
agricultural  schools,  through  our  magnificent 
agricultural  colleges,  through  farmers'  institutes, 
and  especially  through  the  experiment  stations 
and  the  federal  Department  of  Agriculture  in 
agricultural  research  and  in  the  distribution  of 
the  best  agricultural  information — merely  to  in- 
ventory these  movements  properly  would  take 
the  time  available  for  this  discussion.  What  has 
been  said  relative  to  agricultural  education  is 
less  in  way  of  criticism  of  existing  methods 
than  in  way  of  suggestion  as  to  fundamental 
needs. 

THE  ETHICAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  PROBLEM 

Wide  generalizations  as  to  the  exact  moral 
situation  in  the  rural  community  are  impossible. 
Conditions  have  not  been  adequately  studied. 
It  is  probably  safe  to  say  that  the  country  environ- 
ment is  extremely  favorable  for  pure  family  life, 
for  temperance,  and  for  bodily  and  mental  health. 


36  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

To  picture  the  country  a  paradise  is,  however, 
mere  silliness.  There  are  in  the  country,  as 
elsewhere,  evidences  of  vulgarity  in  language,  of 
coarseness  in  thought,  of  social  impurity,  of 
dishonesty  in  business.  There  is  room  in  the 
country  for  all  the  ethical  teaching  that  can  be 
given. 

Nor  is  it  easy  to  discuss  the  country  church 
question.  Conditions  vary  in  different  parts  of 
the  Union,  and  no  careful  study  has  been  made 
of  the  problem.  As  a  general  proposition,  it 
may  be  said  that  there  are  too  many  churches 
in  the  country,  and  that  these  are  illy  supported. 
Consequently,  they  have  in  many  cases  inferior 
ministers.  Sectarianism  is  probably  more  divi- 
sive than  in  the  city,  not  only  because  of  the 
natural  conservatism  of  the  people  and  a  natural 
disinclination  to  change  their  views,  but  because 
sectarian  quarrels  are  perhaps  more  easily 
fomented  and  less  easily  harmonized  than  any- 
where else.  Moreover,  in  the  city  a  person  can 
usually  find  a  denomination  to  his  liking.  In 
the  country,  even  with  the  present  overchurched 
condition,  this  is  difficult. 

The  ideal  solution  of  the  country  church 
problem  is  to  have  in  each  rural  community  one 
strong  church  adequately  supported,  properly 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  37 

equipped,  ministered  to  by  an  able  man — a 
church  which  leads  in  community  service.  The 
path  to  the  realization  of  such  an  ideal  is  rough 
and  thorny.  Church  federation,  however,  prom- 
ises large  results  in  this  direction  and  should  be 
especially  encouraged. 

Whatever  outward  form  the  solution  of  the 
country  church  question  may  take,  there  seem 
to  be  several  general  principles  involved  in  a 
satisfactory  attempt  to  meet  the  issue.  In  the 
first  place,  the  country  church  offers  a  problem 
by  itself,  socially  considered.  Methods  successful 
in  the  city  may  not  succeed  in  the  country.  The 
country  church  question  must  then  be  studied 
thoroughly  and  on  the  ground. 

Again,  the  same  principle  of  financial  aid  to  be 
utilized  in  the  case  of  the  schools  must  be  invoked 
here.  The  wealth  of  the  whole  church  must 
contribute  to  the  support  of  the  church  every- 
where. The  strong  must  help  the  weak.  The 
city  must  help  the  country.  But  this  aid  must 
be  given  by  co-operation,  not  by  condescension. 
The  demand  cannot  be  met  by  home  missionary 
effort  nor  by  church-building  contributions;  the 
principle  goes  far  deeper  than  that.  Some  device 
must  be  secured  which  binds  together  the  whole 
church,  along  denominational  lines  if  must  be, 


38  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

for  a  ful]  development  of  church  work  in  every 
community  in  the  land. 

Furthermore,  there  is  supreme  necessity  for 
adding  dignity  to  the  country  parish.  Too  often 
at  present  the  rural  parish  is  regarded  either  as  a 
convenient  laboratory  for  the  clerical  novice, 
or  as  an  asylum  for  the  decrepit  or  inefficient. 
The  country  parish  must  be  a  parish  for  our 
ablest  and  strongest.  The  ministry  of  the  most 
Christlike  must  be  to  the  hill-towns  of  Galilee  as 
well  as  to  Jerusalem. 

There  is  still  another  truth  that  the  country 
church  cannot  afford  to  ignore.  The  rural 
church  question  is  peculiarly  interwoven  with 
the  industrial  and  social  problems  of  the  farm. 
A  declining  agriculture  cannot  foster  a  growing 
church.  An  active  church  can  render  especially 
strong  service  to  a  farm  community,  in  its  in- 
fluence upon  the  religious  life,  the  home  life,  the 
educational  life,  the  social  life,  and  even  upon 
the  industrial  life.  Nowhere  else  are  these 
various  phases  of  society's  activities  so  fully 
members  one  of  another  as  in  the  country.  The 
country  church  should  co-operate  with  other 
rural  social  agencies.  This  means  that  the 
country  pastor  should  assume  a  certain  leader- 
ship in  movements  for  rural  progress.     He  is 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  39 

splendidly  fitted,  by  the  nature  of  his  work  and 
by  his  position  in  the  community,  to  co-operate 
with  earnest  farmers  for  the  social  and  economic, 
as  well  as  the  moral  and  spiritual,  upbuilding 
of  the  farm  community.  But  he  must  know 
the  farm  problem.  Here  is  an  opportunity  for 
theological  seminaries:  let  them  make  rural 
sociology  a  required  subject.  And,  better,  here 
is  a  magnificent  field  of  labor  for  the  right  kind 
of  young  men.  The  country  pastorate  may  thus 
prove  to  be,  as  it  ought  to  be,  a  place  of  honor 
and  rare  privilege.  In  any  event,  the  country 
church,  to  render  its  proper  service,  not  alone 
must  minister  to  the  individual  soul,  but  must 
throw  itself  into  the  struggle  for  rural  betterment, 
must  help  solve  the  farm  problem. 

FEDERATION  OF  FORCES 

The  suggestion  that  the  country  church  should 
ally  itself  with  other  agencies  of  rural  progress 
may  be  carried  a  step  farther.  Rural  social 
forces  should  be  federated.  The  object  of  such 
federation  is  to  emphasize  the  real  nature  of  the 
farm  problem,  to  interest  many  people  in  its 
solution,  and  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the 
various  rural  social  agencies,  each  of  which  has 
its  sphere,  but  also  its  limitations.    The  method 


40  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  federation  is  to  bring  together,  for  conference 
and  for  active  work,  farmers — especially  repre- 
sentatives of  farmers'  organizations,  agricultural 
educators,  rural  school-teachers  and  supervisors, 
country  clergymen,  country  editors;  in  fact,  all 
who  have  a  genuine  interest  in  the  farm  problem. 
Thus  will  come  clearer  views  of  the  questions  at 
issue,  broader  plans  for  reform,  greater  incentive 
to  action,  and  more  rapid  progress. 

CONCLUSION 

In  this  brief  analysis  of  the  social  problems  of 
American  farmers  it  has  been  possible  merely 
to  outline  those  aspects  of  the  subject  that  seem 
to  be  fundamental.  It  is  hoped  that  the  impor- 
tance of  each  problem  has  been  duly  emphasized, 
that  the  wisest  methods  of  progress  have  been 
indicated,  and  that  the  relation  of  the  various 
social  agencies  to  the  main  question  has  been 
clearly  brought  out.  Let  us  leave  the  subject  by 
emphasizing  once  more  the  character  of  the 
ultimate  farm  problem.  This  problem  may 
be  stated  more  concretely,  if  not  more  accurately, 
than  was  done  at  the  opening  of  the  paper,  by 
saying  that  the  ideal  of  rural  betterment  is  to 
preserve  upon  our  farms  the  typical  American 
farmer.    The  American  farmer  has  been  essen- 


THE  PROBLEMS  OF  PROGRESS  41 

tially  a  middle-class  man.  It  is  this  type  we 
must  maintain.  Agriculture  must  be  made  to 
yield  returns  in  wealth,  in  opportunity,  in  con- 
tentment, in  social  position,  sufficient  to  attract 
and  to  hold  to.it  a  class  of  intelligent,  educated 
American  citizens.  This  is  an  end  vital  to  the 
preservation  of  American  democratic  ideals.  It 
is  a  result  that  will  not  achieve  itself;  social 
agencies  must  be  invoked  for  its  accomplishment. 
It  demands  the  intelligent  and  earnest  co-oper- 
ation of  all  who  love  the  soil  and  who  seek 
America's  permanent  welfare. 


THE  OUTLOOK 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  EXPANSION  OF  FARM  LIFE 

Narrowness  is  perhaps  the  charge  most  often 
brought  against  American  farm  life.  To  a  cer- 
tain extent  this  charge  may  be  just,  though  the 
comparisons  that  usually  lead  up  to  the  conclu- 
sion do  not  always  discriminate.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  there  are  degrees  of  desirability 
in  farm  life,  and  that  at  the  least  there  are  multi- 
tudes of  rural  communities  where  bright  flowers 
still  bloom,  where  the  shade  is  refreshing,  and 
the  waters  are  sweet.  But,  granting  for  the 
time  that  in  the  main  rural  life  is  less  pleasant,  less 
rich,  less  expansive  than  city  life,  we  shall  urge 
that  this  era  of  restriction  is  rapidly  drawing  to 
a  close.  There  are  forces  at  work  that  are  mold- 
ing rural  life  by  new  standards,  and  the  old 
regime  is  passing.  We  shall  soon  be  able  to 
say  of  the  country  that  "old  things  have  passed 
away;  all  things  have  become  new." 

This  statement  may  seem  too  optimistic  to 
some  who  can  marshal  an  array  of  facts  to  prove 
that  bigotry,  narrowness,  and  the  whole  family 
of  ills  begotten  by  isolation  still  thrive  in  the 

45 


46  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

country.  It  is  true  that  our  picture  is  not  all 
of  rose  tints.  But  what  of  that  ?  If  it  were  not 
true  there  would  be  no  farm  problem;  the 
country  would  have  to  convert  the  town.  The 
fact  remains  that  rural  life  is  undergoing  a 
rapid  expansion.  Materially,  socially,  and  in- 
tellectually, the  farmer  is  broadening.  Old 
prejudices  are  fading.  The  plowman  is  no 
longer  content  to  keep  his  eye  forever  on  the 
furrow.  The  revival  has  been  in  slow  progress 
for  some  time  and  has  not  yet  reached  its  zenith; 
indeed,  the  movement  is  but  well  under  way. 
For  while  the  new  day  came  long  ago  to  some 
rural  communities  and  they  are  basking  in  a 
noonday  sun,  yet  in  far  too  many  localities  the 
faintest  gray  of  dawn  is  all  that  rouses  hope. 

The  fundamental  change  that  is  taking  place 
is  the  gradual  adoption  of  the  new  agriculture. 
"  Book-farmin'  "  is  still  decried,  and  many  "per- 
fessers"  have  a  rocky  road  to  travel  in  their  at- 
tempts to  guide  the  masses  through  the  laby- 
rinth of  scientific  knowledge  that  has  been  con- 
structed during  the  last  decade  or  two.  This 
difficulty  has  not  been  wholly  the  farmer's  fault 
— the  scientist  would  often  have  been  more  per- 
suasive had  his  wings  been  clipped.  But  there 
is  a  decided  "getting  together"  nowadays— 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  FARM  LIFE  47 

the  farmer  and  the  man  of  science  have  at  last 
found  common  ground.  And  while  the  pendu- 
lum of  agricultural  prosperity  shall  always  swing 
to  and  fro,  there  are,  to  change  the  figure,  reasons 
for  believing  that  an  increasing  number  of 
farmers  have  rooted  the  tree  of  permanent  suc- 
cess. 

To  enumerate  some  of  these  reasons:  (i) 
Thousands  of  farmers  are  farming  on  a  scientific 
basis.  They  use  the  results  of  soil  and  fertilizer 
analysis;  they  cultivate,  not  to  kill  weeds  so 
much  as  to  conserve  moisture;  horticulturists 
spray  their  trees  according  to  formulas  laid 
down  by  experimenters;  dairymen  use  the 
"Babcock  test"  for  determining  the  fat  content 
of  milk;  stock-feeders  utilize  the  scientists'  feed- 
ing rations.  (2)  The  number  of  specialists 
among  farmers  is  increasing.  This  is  a  sign  of 
progress  surely.  More  and  more  farmers  are 
coming  to  push  a  single  line  of  work.  (3)  New 
methods  are  being  rapidly  adopted.  Fifteen 
years  ago  hardly  a  fruit-grower  sprayed  for  in- 
sect and  fungus  pests;  today  it  is  rare  to  find 
one  who  does  not.  The  co-operative  creamery 
has  not  only  revolutionized  the  character  of  the 
butter  product  made  by  the  factory  system,  but 
it  has  set  the  pace  for  thousands  of  private  dairy- 


48  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

men  who  are  now  making  first-class  dairy  butter. 

(4)  In  general  the  whole  idea  of  intensive  farming 
is  gaining  ground. 

This  specialization,  or  intensification,  of  agri- 
culture makes  a  new  demand,  upon  those  who 
pursue  it,  in  the  way  of  mental  and  business 
training.  This  training  is  being  furnished  by  a 
multitude  of  agencies,  and  the  younger  genera- 
tion of  farmers  is  taking  proper  advantage  of  the 
opportunities  thus  offered.  What  are  some  of 
these  regular  agencies  ?  (1)  An  alert  farm  press, 
containing  contributions  from  both  successful 
farmers  and  scientific  workers.  (2)  Farmers' 
institutes,  which  are  traveling  schools  of  tech- 
nical instruction  for  farmers.  (3)  The  bulle- 
tins issued  by  the  government  experiment  sta- 
tions located  in  every  state,  and  by  the  federal 
Department  of  Agriculture.  (4)  Special  winter 
courses  (of  from  two  to  twelve  weeks),  offered 
at  nearly  all  the  agricultural  colleges  of  the 
country,  for  instruction  in  practical  agriculture. 

(5)  Regular  college  courses  in  agriculture  at  these 
same  colleges.  (6)  Extension  instruction  by  lec- 
tures and  correspondence.  (7)  A  growing  book 
literature  of  technical  agriculture.  (8)  More 
encouraging  than  all  else  is  the  spirit  of  inquiry 
that  prevails  among  farmers  the  country  over — 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  FARM  LIFE  49 

the  recognition  that  there  is  a  basis  of  science  in 
agriculture.  No  stronger  pleas  for  the  advance- 
ment of  agricultural  education  can  be  found 
than  those  that  have  recently  been  formulated 
by  farmers  themselves. 

If  this  regeneration  of  farm  life  were  wholly 
material  it  would  be  worth  noting;  for  it  prom- 
ises a  prosperity  built  on  foundations  sufficiently 
strong  to  withstand  ordinary  storms.  Yet  this 
is  but  a  chapter  of  the  story.  Not  only  are  our 
American  farmers  making  a  study  of  their  busi- 
ness, bringing  to  it  the  resources  of  advancing 
knowledge  and  good  mental  training,  and  hence 
deriving  from  it  the  strong,  alert  mental  char- 
acter that  comes  to  all  business  men  who  pursue 
equally  intelligent  methods,  but  the  farmers  are 
by  no  means  neglecting  their  duty  to  broaden 
along  general  intellectual  lines.  Farmers  have 
always  been  interested  in  politics;  there  is  no 
reason  to  think  that  their  interest  is  declining. 
The  Grange  and  other  organizations  keep  their 
attention  on  current  problems.  Traveling  li- 
braries, school  libraries,  and  Grange  libraries 
are  giving  new  opportunities  for  general  reading, 
and  the  farmer's  family  is  not  slow  to  accept  the 
chance.  Low  prices  for  magazines  and  family 
papers  bring  to  these  periodicals  an  increasing 


50  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

list  from  the  rural  offices.  Rural  free  mail  de- 
livery promises,  among  many  other  results  of 
vast  importance,  to  enlarge  the  circulation  of 
daily  papers  among  farmers  not  less  than  tenfold. 

The  really  great  lesson  that  farmers  are 
rapidly  learning  is  to  work  together.  They  have 
been  the  last  class  to  organize,  and  jealousy,  dis- 
trust, and  isolation  have  made  such  organiza- 
tions as  they  have  had  comparatively  ineffective. 
But  gradually  they  are  learning  to  compromise, 
to  work  in  harmony,  to  sink  merely  personal 
views,  to  trust  their  own  leaders,  to  keep  troth 
in  financially  co-operative  projects.  There  will 
be  no  Farmers'  Party  organized ;  but  the  higher 
politics  is  gaining  among  farmers,  and  more  and 
more  independent  voting  may  be  expected  from 
the  rural  precincts.  Farmers  are  learning  to 
pool  such  of  their  interests  as  can  be  furthered 
by  legislation. 

It  is  also  true  that  the  whole  aspect  of  social 
life  in  the  country  is  undergoing  a  profound  evo- 
lutionary movement.  Farmers  are  meeting  one 
another  more  frequently  than  they  used  to. 
They  have  more  picnics  and  holidays.  They 
travel  more.  They  go  sight-seeing.  They  take 
advantage  of  excursions.  Their  social  life  is 
more    mobile    than    formerly.    Farmers   have 


THE  EXPANSION  OF  FARM  LIFE  51 

more  comforts  and  luxuries  than  ever  before. 
They  dress  better  than  they  did.  More  of  them 
ride  in  carriages  than  formerly.  They  buy 
neater  and  better  furniture.  The  newer  houses 
are  prettier  and  more  comfortable  than  their 
predecessors.  Bicycles  and  cameras  are  not 
uncommon  in  the  rural  home.  Rural  telephone 
exchanges  are  relatively  a  new  thing,  but  the 
near  future  will  see  the  telephone  a  part  of  the 
ordinary  furniture  of  the  rural  household; 
while  electric  car  lines  promise  to  be  the  final 
link  in  the  chain  of  advantages  that  is  rapidly 
transforming  rural  life — robbing  it  of  its  isola- 
tion, giving  it  balance  and  poise,  softening  its 
hard  outlines,  and  in  general  achieving  its 
thorough  regeneration. 

This  sketch  is  no  fancy  tale.  The  movement 
described  is  genuine  and  powerful.  The  busy 
city  world  may  not  note  the  signs  of  progress. 
Well-minded  philanthropists  may  feel  that  the 
rural  districts  are  in  special  need  of  their  ser- 
vices. Even  to  the  watchers  on  the  walls  there 
is  much  of  discouragement  in  the  advancement 
that  isn't  being  made.  Yet  it  needs  no  prophet's 
eye  to  see  that  a  vast  change  for  the  better  in 
rural  life  and  conditions  is  now  in  progress. 

No  student  of  these  conditions  expects  or  de- 


52  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

sires  that  the  evolution  shall  be  Acadian  in  its 
results.  It  is  to  be  hoped  indeed  that  country 
sweets  shall  not  lose  their  delights;  that  the 
farmer  himself  may  find  in  his  surroundings 
spiritual  and  mental  ambrosia.  But  what  is 
wanted,  and  what  is  rapidly  coming,  is  the  break- 
ing down  of  those  barriers  which  have  so  long 
differentiated  country  from  urban  life;  the  ex- 
tinction of  that  social  ostracism  which  has  been 
the  farmer's  fate;  the  obliteration  of  that  line 
which  for  many  a  youth  has  marked  the  bounds 
of  opportunity:  in  fact,  the  creation  of  a  rural 
society  whose  advantages,  rewards,  prerogatives, 
chances  for  service,  means  of  culture,  and  pleas- 
ures are  representative  of  the  best  and  sanest 
life  that  the  accumulated  wisdom  of  the  ages 
can  prescribe  for  mankind. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  NEW  FARMER 

All  farmers  may  be  divided  into  three  classes. 
There  is  the  "old"  farmer,  there  is  the  "new" 
farmer,  and  there  is  the  "mossback."  The  old 
farmer  represents  the  ancient  regime.  The  new 
farmer  is  the  modern  business  agriculturist. 
The  mossback  is  a  mediaeval  survival.  The  old 
farmer  was  in  his  day  a  new  farmer;  he  was 
"up  with  the  times,"  as  the  times  then  were. 
The  new  farmer  is  merely  the  worthy  son  of  a 
noble  sire ;  he  is  the  modern  embodiment  of  the 
old  farmer's  progressiveness.  The  mossback  is 
the  man  who  tries  to  use  the  old  methods  under 
the  new  conditions;  he  is  not  "up"  with  the 
present  times,  but  "back"  with  the  old  times. 
Though  he  lives  and  moves  in  the  present,  he 
really  has  his  being  in  the  past. 

The  old  farmer  is  the  man  who  conquered  the 
American  continent.  His  axe  struck  the  crown 
from  the  monarchs  of  the  wood,  and  the  fertile 
farms  of  Ohio  are  the  kingdom  he  created.  He 
broke  the  sod  of  the  rich  prairies,  and  the  tassel- 
ing  cornfields  of  Iowa  tell  the  story  of  his  deeds. 

53 


54  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

He  hitched  his  plow  to  the  sun,  and  his  westward 
lengthening  furrows  fill  the  world's  granary.    . 

The  new  farmer  has  his  largest  conquests  yet 
to  make.  But  he  has  put  his  faith  in  the  strong 
arm  of  science ;  he  has  at  his  hand  the  commer- 
cial mechanism  of  a  world  of  business.  He 
believes  he  will  win  because  he  is  in  league  with 
the  ongoing  forces  of  our  civilization. 

The  mossback  cannot  win,  because  he  prefers 
a  flintlock  to  a  Mauser.  He  has  his  eyes  upon 
the  ground,  and  uses  snails  instead  of  stars  for 
horses. 

The  old  farmer  was  a  pioneer,  and  he  had 
all  the  courage,  enterprise,  and  resourcefulness  of 
the  pioneer.  He  was  virile,  above  all  things 
else.  He  owned  and  controlled  everything  in 
sight.  He  was  a  state-builder.  Half  a  century 
ago,  in  the  Middle  West,  the  strong  men  and  the 
influential  families  were  largely  farmers.  Even 
professional  men  owned  and  managed  farms, 
frequently  living  upon  them.  The  smell  of  the 
soil  sweetened  musty  law  books,  deodorized  the 
doctor's  den,  and  floated  as  incense  above  the 
church  altars. 

The  new  farmer  lives  in  a  day  when  the  nation 
is  not  purely  an  agricultural  nation,  but  is  also  a 
manufacturing  and  a  trading  nation.    He  be- 


THE  NEW  FARMER  55 

longs  no  longer  to  the  dominant  class,  so  far  as 
commercial  and  social  and  political  influence 
are  concerned.  But  none  of  these  things  move 
him.  For  he  realizes  that  out  of  this  seeming 
decline  of  agriculture  grow  his  best  opportuni- 
ties. He  discards  pioneer  methods  because  pio- 
neering is  not  now  an  effective  art. 

The  mossback  sees  perhaps  clearly  enough 
these  changes,  but  he  does  not  understand  their 
meaning,  nor  does  he  know  how  to  meet  them. 
He  is  dazzled  by  the  romantic  halo  of  the  good 
old  times,  dumfounded  by  the  electric  energy  of 
the  present,  discouraged  and  distracted  by  the 
pressure  of  forces  that  crush  his  hopes  and  stifle 
his  strength. 

Economically,  the  old  farmer  was  not  a  busi- 
ness man,  but  a  barterer.  The  rule  of  barter  still 
survives  in  the  country  grocery  where  butter  and 
eggs  are  traded  for  sugar  and  salt.  The  old 
farmer  was  industrially  self-sufficient.  He  did 
not  farm  on  a  commercial  basis.  He  raised 
apples  for  eating  and  for  cider,  not  for  market — 
there  was  no  apple  market.  He  had  very  little 
ready  money,  he  bought  and  sold  few  products. 
He  traded.  Even  his  grain,  which  afterward 
became  the  farmer's  great  cash  crop,  was  raised 
in  small  quantities  and  ground  at  the  nearest 


56  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

mill — not  for  export,  but  for  a  return  migration 
to  the  family  flour-barrel. 

The  new  farmer  has  always  existed — because 
he  is  the  old  farmer  growing.  He  has  kept  pace 
with  our  industrial  evolution.  When  the  regime 
of  barter  passed  away,  he  ceased  to  barter. 
When  the  world's  market  became  a  fact,  he 
raised  wheat  for  the  world's  market.  As  agri- 
culture became  a  business,  he  became  a  business 
man.  As  agricultural  science  began  to  contrib- 
ute to  the  art  of  farming,  he  studied  applied 
science.  As  industrial  education  developed,  he 
founded  and  patronized  institutions  for  agri- 
cultural education.  As  alertness  and  enterprise 
began  to  be  indispensable  in  commercial  activity, 
he  grew  alert  and  enterprising. 

The  mossback  is  the  man  who  has  either 
misread  the  signs  of  the  times,  or  who  has  not 
possessed  the  speed  demanded  in  the  two-min- 
ute class.  He  is  the  old  farmer  gone  to  seed. 
He  tries  to  fit  the  old  methods  to  the  new 
regime. 

But  it  is  not  sufficient  to  picture  the  new 
farmer.  You  must  explain  him.  What  is  it 
that  makes  the  new  farmer?  Who  is  he? 
What  are  his  tools  ?  In  the  first  place,  you  can- 
not explain  the  new  farmer  unless  you  know  the 


THE  NEW  FARMER  57 

old  farmer.  You  cannot  have  the  new  farmer 
unless  you  also  have  the  mossback.  The  new 
farmer  is  a  comparative  person,  as  it  were.  You 
have  to  define  him  in  terms  of  the  mossback. 
The  contrast  is  not  between  the  old  farmer  and 
the  new,  for  that  is  merely  a  question  of  relative 
conditions  in  different  epochs  of  time.  The 
contrast  is  between  the  new  farmer  and  the  moss- 
back, for  that  is  a  question  of  men  and  of  their 
relative  efficiency  as  members  of  the  industrial 
order.  Then,  of  course,  you  must  observe  the 
individual  traits  that  characterize  the  new 
farmer,  such  as  keenness,  business  instinct, 
readiness  to  adopt  new  methods,  and,  in  fact,  all 
the  qualities  that  make  a  man  a  success  today 
in  any  calling.  For  the  new  farmer,  in  respect 
to  his  personal  qualities,  is  not  a  sport,  a  phe- 
nomenon. He  does  not  stand  out  as  a  distinct 
and  peculiar  specimen.  He  is  a  successful 
American  citizen  who  grows  corn  instead  of 
making  steel  rails. 

But  you  have  not  yet  explained  the  new 
farmer.  These  personal  traits  do  not  explain 
him.  It  may  be  possible  to  explain  an  individ- 
ual and  his  success  by  calling  attention  to  his 
characteristics,  and  yet  you  cannot  completely 
analyze  him  and  his  career  unless  you  under- 


58  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

stand  the  conditions  under  which  he  works — 
the  industrial  and  social  environment.  Much 
less  can  you  explain  a  class  of  people  by  de- 
scribing their  personal  characteristics.  You 
must  reach  out  into  the  great  current  of  life  that 
is  about  them,  and  discern  the  direction  and 
power  of  that  current. 

Now,  the  conditions  that  tend  to  make  the 
new  farmer  possible  may  be  grouped  in  an  old- 
fashioned  way  under  two  heads.  In  the  old 
scientific  phrases  the  two  forces  that  make  the 
new  farmer  are  the  "struggle  for  life"  and  "en- 
vironment," or,  to  use  other  words,  competition 
and  opportunity. 

Competition  has  pressed  severely  upon  the 
farmer,  competition  at  home  and  competition 
from  other  countries.  At  one  time  the  heart  of 
the  wheat-growing  industry  of  this  country  was 
near  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  in  the  Genesee  Valley; 
but  the  canal  and  the  railway  soon  made  possible 
the  occupation  of  the  great  granary  of  the  west. 
A  multitude  of  ambitious  young  men  soon  took 
possession  of  that  granary,  and  the  flour-mills 
were  moved  from  Rochester  to  Minneapolis. 
This  is  an  old  story,  but  the  same  forces  are  still 
at  work.  There  has  been  developed  a  world- 
market.    The  sheep  of  the  Australian  bush  have 


THE  NEW  FARMER  59 

become  competitors  of  the  flocks  that  feed  upon 
the  green  Vermont  mountains  and  the  Ohio 
hills.  The  plains  of  Argentina  grow  wheat  for 
London.  Russia,  Siberia,  and  India  pour  a  con- 
stant stream  of  golden  grain  into  the  industrial 
centers  of  Western  Europe,  and  the  price  of 
American  wheat  is  fixed  in  London.  These 
forces  have  produced  still  another  kind  of  compe- 
tition; namely,  specialization  among  farmers. 
Localities  particularly  adapted  to  special  crops 
are  becoming  centers  where  skill  and  intelligence 
bring  the  industry  to  its  height.  The  truck- 
farming  of  the  South  Atlantic  region,  the  fruit 
growing  of  western  Michigan,  the  butter 
factories  of  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  have 
crowded  almost  to  suffocation  the  small  market- 
gardener  of  the  northern  town,  the  man  with  a 
dozen  peach  trees,  and  the  farmer  who  keeps 
two  cows  and  trades  the  surplus  butter  for 
calico.  These  things  have  absolutely  forced 
progress  upon  the  farmer.  It  is  indeed  a 
"struggle  for  life."  Out  of  it  comes  the  "sur- 
vival of  the  fittest,"  and  the  fittest  is  the  new 
farmer. 

But  along  with  competition  has  come  oppor- 
tunity. Indeed,  out  of  these  very  facts  that 
have  made  competition  so  strenuous  spring  the 


60  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

most  marvelous  opportunities  for  the  progres- 
sive farmer.  Specialization  brings  out  the  best 
that  there  is  in  the  locality  and  the  man.  It 
gives  a  chance  to  apply  science  to  farming.  Our 
transportation  system  permits  the  peach  growers 
of  Grand  Rapids  to  place  their  crops  at  a  profit 
in  the  markets  of  Buffalo  and  Pittsburg;  the 
rich  orchards  and  vineyards  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia find  their  chief  outlet  in  the  cities  of 
the  manufacturing  Northeast — three  thousand 
miles  away.  During  the  forty  years,  from 
i860,  the  exports  of  wheat  from  this  country 
increased  from  four  million  bushels  annually 
to  one  hundred  and  forty  million  bushels;  of 
corn,  from  three  and  one-third  million  bushels 
to  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  million  bushels ; 
of  beef  products,  from  twenty  million  pounds  to 
three  hundred  and  seventy  million  pounds;  of 
pork  products,  from  ninety-eight  million  pounds 
to  seventeen  hundred  million  pounds.  And  not 
only  do  the  grain  and  stock  farmers  find  this 
outlet  for  their  surplus  products,  but  we  are 
beginning  to  ship  abroad  high-grade  fruit  and 
first-class  dairy  products  in  considerable  quan- 
tities. Low  rates  of  freight,  modern  methods 
of  refrigeration,  express  freight  trains,  fast 
freight  steamers — the  whole  machinery  of  the 


THE  NEW  FARMER  61 

commercial  and  financial  world  are  at  the  ser- 
vice of  the  new  farmer.  Science,  also,  has  found 
a  world  of  work  in  ministering  to  the  needs  of 
agriculture,  and  in  a  hundred  different  ways 
the  new  farmer  finds  helps  that  have  sprung  up 
from  the  broadcast  sowing  of  the  hand  of 
science. 

But  perhaps  even  more  remarkable  oppor- 
tunities come  to  the  new  farmer  in  those  social 
agencies  that  tend  to  remove  the  isolation  of  the 
country;  that  assist  in  educating  the  farmer 
broadly;  that  give  farmers  as  a  class  more  influ- 
ence in  legislature  and  congress,  and  that,  in 
fine,  make  rural  life  more  worth  the  living.  The 
new  farmer  cannot  be  explained  until  one  is 
somewhat  familiar  with  the  character  of  these 
rural  social  agencies.  They  have  already  been 
enumerated  and  classified  in  a  previous  chapter ; 
they  will  be  more  fully  described  in  subsequent 
chapters. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  every  successful 
farmer  is  necessarily  a  supporter  of  all  of  these 
social  agencies.  He  may  be  a  prosperous 
farmer  just  because  he  is  good  at  the  art  of 
farming,  or  because  he  is  a  keen  business  man. 
But  more  and  more  he  is  coming  to  see  that 
these  things  are  opportunities  that  he  cannot 


62  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

afford  to  disregard.  Indeed,  some  of  these  insti- 
tutions are  largely  the  creation  of  the  new 
farmer  himself.  He  is  using  them  as  tools  to 
fashion  a  better  rural  social  structure. 

But  they  also  fashion  him.  They  serve  to 
explain  him,  in  great  part.  Competition  in- 
spires the  farmer  to  his  best  efforts.  The  oppor- 
tunity offered  by  these  new  and  growing  advan- 
tages gives  him  the  implements  wherewith  to 
make  his  rightful  niche  in  the  social  and  indus- 
trial system. 

It  would  be  erroneous  to  suppose  that  the  new 
farmer  is  a  rara  avis.  He  is  not.  The  spirit 
pervading  the  ranks  of  farmers  is  rapidly 
changing.  We  have  been  in  a  state  of  transi- 
tion in  agriculture.  But  the  farther  shore  has 
been  reached  and  the  bridge  is  possible.  The 
army  of  rural  advancement  is  being  recruited 
with  great  rapidity.  The  advance  guard  is  more 
than  a  body  of  scouts,  it  is  an  effective  brigade. 

I  want  also  to  make  a  plea  for  the  mossback. 
He  must  not  be  condemned  utterly.  Remember 
that  competition  among  farmers  has  been  in- 
tense; that  rural  environment  breeds  conserva- 
tism. Remember  also  that  the  farmer  cannot 
change  his  methods  as  rapidly  as  can  some 
other    business    men.     Remember,    too.    that 


THE  NEW  FARMER  63 

there  is  comparatively  small  chance  for  specu- 
lation in  agriculture;  that  large  aggregates  of 
capital  cannot  be  collected  for  farming,  and  con- 
sequently, that  the  approved  means  for  securing 
immense  wealth,  great  industrial  advancement, 
and  huge  enterprises  are  nearly  absent  in  agri- 
culture. Remember  that  the  voices  calling 
from  the  city  deplete  the  country  of  many  good 
farmers  as  well  as  of  many  poor  ones.  More- 
over, there  are  many  men  on  farms  who  perhaps 
don't  care  for  farming,  but  who  for  some  reason 
cannot  get  away.  On  the  farm  a  man  need  not 
starve;  he  can  make  a  livelihood.  Doubtless 
this  simple  fact  is  responsible  for  a  multitude  of 
mossbacks.  They  can  live  without  strenuous 
endeavor.  Possibly  a  good  many  of  us  are 
strenuous  because  we  are  pushed  into  it.  So  I 
have  a  good  deal  of  sympathy  for  the  mossback, 
and  a  mild  sort  of  scorn  for  some  of  his  critics, 
who  probably  could  not  do  any  better  than  he 
is  doing  if  they  essayed  the  gentle  art  of  agricul- 
ture. I  also  have  sympathy  for  the  mossback 
particularly  because  he  is  the  man  that  needs 
attention.  The  new  farmer  takes  the  initiative. 
He  patronizes  these  opportunities  that  we  have 
been  talking  about.  But  the  mossback,  be- 
cause he  is  discouraged,  or  because  he  is  igno- 


64  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

rant,  or  perhaps  merely  because  he  is  conserva- 
tive, takes  little  interest  in  these  things.  About 
one  farmer  in  ten  belongs  to  some  sort  of  farmers' 
association.  Thousands  of  farmers  do  not  take 
an  agricultural  paper,  and  perhaps  millions  of 
them  have  not  read  an  agricultural  book.  Right 
here  comes  in  another  fact.  Every  "  new  "  farmer 
when  full  grown  competes  with  every  mossback. 
The  educated  farmer  makes  it  still  harder  for 
the  ignorant  farmer  to  progress. 

The  future  of  the  American  farmer  is  one  of 
the  most  pregnant  social  problems  with  which 
we  have  to  deal.  There  is  indeed  an  issue  in- 
volved in  the  success  of  the  new  farmer  that  is 
still  more  fundamental  than  any  yet  mentioned. 
The  old  farmer  had  a  social  standing  that  made 
him  essentially  a  middle-class  man.  He  was  a 
landholder,  he  was  independent,  he  was  success- 
ful. He  was  the  typical  American  citizen.  The 
old  farmer  was  father  to  the  best  blood  of 
America.  His  sons  and  his  sons'  sons  have 
answered  to  the  roll  call  of  our  country's  war- 
riors, statesmen,  writers,  captains  of  industry. 

Can  the  new  farmer  maintain  the  same  relative 
social  status?  And  if  he  can,  is  he  to  be  an 
aristocrat,  a  landlord,  a  captain  of  industry, 
and  to  bear  rule  over  the  mossback?    And  is 


THE  NEW  FARMER  65 

the  tribe  of  mossbacks  destined  to  increase  and 
become  a  caste  of  permanent  tenants  or  peasants  ? 
Is  the  future  American  farmer  to  be  the  typical 
new  farmer  of  the  present,  or  are  we  traveling 
toward  a  social  condition  in  which  the  tillers 
of  the  soil  will  be  underlings  ?  Is  there  coming  a 
time  when  the  "man  with  the  hoe"  will  be  the 
true  picture  of  the  American  farmer,  with  a  low 
standard  of  living,  without  ideals,  without  a 
chance  for  progress  ? 

We  must  eliminate  the  mossback.  It  is  to 
be  done  largely  by  education  and  by  co-opera- 
tion. There  must  be  a  campaign  for  rural 
progress.  There  must  be  a  union  of  the 
country  school  teacher,  of  the  agricultural  col- 
lege professor,  of  the  rural  pastor,  of  the  country 
editor,  with  the  farmers  themselves,  for  the  pro- 
duction of  an  increased  crop  of  new  farmers. 
Anything  that  makes  farm  life  more  worth 
living,  anything  that  banishes  rural  isolation, 
anything  that  dignifies  the  business  of  farming 
and  makes  it  more  prosperous,  anything  that 
broadens  the  farmer's  horizon,  anything  that 
gives  him  a  greater  grasp  of  the  rural  movement, 
anything  that  makes  him  a  better  citizen,  a 
better  business  man,  or  a  better  man,  means  the 
passing  of  the  mossback. 


CHAPTER  V 
CULTURE  FROM  THE  CORN  LOT1 

The  question  of  questions  that  the  college 
student  asks  himself  is,  What  am  I  going  to  be  ? 
The  surface  query  is,  What  am  I  going  to  do  ? 
But  in  his  heart  of  hearts  he  ponders  the  deeper 
questions :  What  may  I  become  in  real  intellec- 
tual and  moral  worth?  How  large  a  man, 
measured  by  the  divine  standards,  will  it  be 
possible  for  me  to  grow  into  ? 

These  are  the  great  questions  because  growth 
is  the  great  end  of  life.  That  is  what  we  are 
here  for,  to  grow.  To  develop  all  our  talents, 
all  our  possibilities,  to  increase  our  native 
powers  of  body,  mind,  and  soul — this  is  life.  It 
is  important  that  we  have  a  vocation.  We  must 
do  something,  and  do  it  well.  But  the  real  end 
is  not  in  working  at  a  profession  but  in  develop- 
ing our  abilities.  Our  symmetrical  growth  is 
the  measure  of  our  success  as  human  beings. 

As  the  student  looks  out  over  the  ocean  of 
life  and  scans  the  horizon  for  signs  of  the  wise 
course  for  him  to  take,  he  should  decide  whether 

1  Addressed  to  students  in  an  agricultural  college. 
66 


CULTURE  FROM  THE  CORN  LOT     67 

the  particular  mode  of  life  that  now  appeals  to 
him  will  yield  the  greatest  possible  measure  of 
growth.  He  must  consult  his  tastes,  his  talents, 
his  opportunities,  his  training.  And  the  test 
question  is,  Will  this  line  of  work  yield  me  the 
growth,  the  culture,  I  desire  ? 

But  what  are  the  elements  that  yield  culture 
to  an  individual  ?  Using  culture  in  a  very  broad 
sense  as  a  synonym  for  growth,  we  may  say  that 
the  things  contributing  most  to  the  culture  of 
the  average  person  are  his  work,  his  leisure,  and 
his  service  to  others.  We  may  now  try  to  answer 
the  question  we  started  with,  as  it  presents  itself 
to  many  a  student  in  the  agricultural  colleges  of 
our  country.  Will  agriculture  as  a  business, 
will  the  farm  life  and  environment,  contribute 
to  the  growth  which  I  desire  for  myself  ?  Can 
I  extract  culture  from  the  corn  lot  ? 

Let  us  first  see  if  the  work  or  vocation  of 
farming  gives  culture.  My  answer  would  be 
that  there  is  scarcely  an  occupation  to  be  named 
that  requires  broader  knowledge,  more  accurate 
observation,  or  the  exercise  of  better  judgment 
than  does  modern  farming.  The  farmer  deals 
with  the  application  of  many  sciences.  He  must 
be  an  alert  business  man.  He  requires  execu- 
tive talent  of  no  mean  order.     The  study  of  his 


68  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

occupation  in  its  wider  phases  leads  him  into 
direct  contact  with  political  economy,  social 
movements,  and  problems  of  government.  The 
questions  confronting  him  as  a  farmer  relate 
themselves  to  the  leading  realms  of  human 
knowledge  and  experience.  I  speak  of  course 
of  the  progressive  farmer,  who  makes  the  best 
use  of  his  opportunities.  He  can  hardly  hope 
to  become  immensely  wealthy,  but  he  can  main- 
tain that  modest  standard  of  living  that  usually 
is  the  lot  of  our  most  useful  and  cultured  people 
and  that  ministers  as  a  rule  most  fully  to  the 
ideal  family  life.  The  truly  modern  farmer  can- 
not help  growing. 

There  is  much  hard  work  on  the  farm.  Yet 
on  the  whole  there  is  fully  as  much  leisure  as  in 
most  other  occupations.  There  is  time  to  read, 
and  books  are  today  so  easily  accessible  that 
living  in  the  country  is  no  bar  to  the  bookshelf. 
Better  than  time  to  read  is  time  to  think.  The 
farmer  has  always  been  a  man  who  pondered 
things  in  his  heart.  He  has  had  a  chance  to 
meditate.  No  culture  is  sound  except  it  has 
been  bought  by  much  thinking;  all  else  is  veneer. 
Farm  life  gives  in  good  measure  this  time  to 
think.  But  it  is  in  nature  that  the  farmer  finds 
or  may  find  his  most  fertile  field  for  culture. 


CULTURE  FROM  THE  CORN  LOT     69 

Here  he  is  at  home.  Here  he  may  revel  if  he 
will.  Here  he  may  find  the  sources  of  mind- 
liberation  and  of  soul-emancipation.  He  may 
be  the  envy  of  everyone  who  dwells  in  the  city 
because  he  lives  so  near  to  nature's  heart.  Bird 
and  flower,  sky  and  tree,  rock  and  running  brook 
speak  to  him  a  various  language.  He  may  read 
God's  classics,  listen  to  the  music  of  divine  har- 
monies, and  roam  the  picture  galleries  of  the 
Eternal.  So  too  in  his  dealings  with  his  kind,  he 
lives  close  to  men  and  women  who  are  frank, 
virile,  direct,  clean,  independent.  The  culture 
coming  from  such  associations  is  above  price. 
One  learns  to  pierce  all  shams,  to  honor  essen- 
tial manhood,  to  keep  pure  the  fountains  of 
sympathy,  ambition,  and  love.  Thus  on  the 
farm  one  may  find  full  opportunity  for  that  second 
means  of  culture,  leisure. 

Another  powerful  agency  for  cultivating  the 
human  soul  is  service.  Indeed,  service  is  the 
dynamic  of  life.  To  be  of  use  is  the  ambition 
that  best  stimulates  real  growth.  Culture  is 
the  end  of  life,  the  spirit  of  service  the  motive 
power.  So  it  is  of  this  I  would  speak  perhaps 
most  fully,  not  only  because  it  is  a  vital  means  of 
culture,  but  because  it  is  also  peculiarly  the  privi- 
lege and  duty  of  the  college  man  and  the  college 


70  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

woman.  For  let  it  be  said  that  if  any  college 
student  secures  a  diploma  of  any  degree  without 
having  been  seized  upon  by  a  high  ambition  to 
be  of  some  use  in  the  work  of  helping  humanity 
forward,  then  have  that  person's  years  of  study 
been  in  vain,  and  his  teaching  also  vain.  The 
college  man  comes  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister.  He  has  been  poorly  taught  if 
he  leaves  college  with  no  thought  but  for  his 
material  success.  He  must  have  had  a  vision 
of  service,  his  lips  touched  with  a  coal  from  the 
altar  of  social  usefulness,  and  his  heart  cultivated 
to  respond  to  the  call  for  any  need  he  can  supply, 
"Here  am  I,  send  me." 

I  think  it  may  safely  be  said  that  there  is  no 
field  which  offers  better  chance  for  leadership 
to  the  average  college  man  or  woman  than  does 
the  farm.  Take,  for  instance,  politics.  The 
majority  of  our  states  are  agricultural  states. 
The  majority  of  our  counties  are  agricultural 
counties.  The  agricultural  vote  is  the  deter- 
mining factor  in  a  large  proportion  of  our  elec- 
tions. It  follows  inevitably  that  honest,  strong 
farmers  with  the  talent  for  leadership  and  the 
ability  to  handle  themselves  in  competition  with 
other  political  leaders  have  a  marvelously  fine 
chance  for  useful  service. 


CULTURE  FROM  THE  CORN  LOT     71 

So  is  it  in  educational  questions.  Nowhere 
may  the  citizen  come  into  closer  contact  with 
the  educational  problems  of  the  day  than 
through  service  on  the  rural  school  board.  If 
he  brings  to  this  position  trained  intelligence, 
some  acquaintance  with  educational  questions, 
and  a  desire  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  advance- 
ment of  the  times,  he  can  do  for  his  community 
a  service  that  can  hardly  be  imagined. 

Take  another  field — that  of  organization  for 
farmers,  constituting  a  problem  of  great  signifi- 
cance. As  yet  this  class  of  people  is  relatively 
unorganized,  but  the  movement  is  growing  and 
the  need  of  well-trained  leadership  is  vital.  I 
cannot  speak  too  strongly  of  the  chance  here 
offered  for  active,  intelligent,  masterful  men  and 
women  in  being  of  use  as  leaders  and  officials  in 
the  Grange  and  other  farmers'  organizations. 

So  with  the  church  question.  One  of  the 
reasons  for  the  slow  progress  of  the  country 
church  is  the  conservatism  in  the  pews  as  well 
as  in  the  pulpit.  The  ardent  member  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  college 
may  feel  that,  in  the  country,  there  will  be  no 
outlet  for  his  ambition  to  be  of  religious  use  to 
his  fellow-men.  This  is  a  mistake.  The  work 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  itself 


72  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

in  the  country  districts  is  just  beginning,  and 
promises  large  growth.  Wider  service  in  the 
church,  a  community  federation  or  union  of 
different  churches,  the  work  of  young  people's 
societies  and  of  the  Sunday  schools — all  these 
afford  abundant  opportunity  for  the  man  or  the 
woman  qualified  and  willing. 

There  are  other  lines  of  usefulness.  Although 
I  have  stated  that  on  the  farm  the  opportunities 
for  personal  culture  are  great,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed that  these  opportunities  are  not  fully 
utilized  by  the  average  farmer's  family.  Here 
then  is  a  very  wide  field,  especially  for  the 
farmer's  wife.  For  if  she  is  a  cultivated  college 
woman,  she  can  through  the  woman's  club,  the 
Grange,  the  school,  the  nature-study  club,  the 
traveling  library,  and  in  scores  of  ways  exercise 
an  influence  for  good  on  the  community  that 
may  have  far  greater  results  than  would  come 
from  her  efforts  if  expended  in  the  average  city. 
The  farm  home  too  has  latent  capacities  that  are 
yet  to  be  developed.  It  ought  to  be  the  ideal 
home  and,  in  many  cases,  it  is.  But  there  are 
not  enough  of  such  ideal  homes  in  the  country. 
No  college  woman  with  a  desire  to  do  her  full 
service  in  the  world  ought  for  an  instant  to  de- 
spise the  chance  for  service  as  it  exists  on  the  farm. 


CULTURE  FROM  THE  CORN  LOT     73 

All  of  these  opportunities  so  briefly  suggested 
might  be  enlarged  upon  almost  indefinitely,  but 
the  mere  mention  of  them  emphasizes  the  call 
for  this  service  and  this  leadership.  Nowhere 
are  leaders  more  needed  than  in  the  country. 
The  country  has  been  robbed  of  many  of  its 
strongest  and  best.  The  city  and  perhaps  the 
nation  are  gainers:  but  the  country  has  suffered. 
From  one  point  of  view,  the  future  of  our  farm- 
ing communities  depends  upon  the  quality  of 
leadership  that  we  are  to  find  there  during  the 
next  generation. 

So  we  come  back  to  our  question,  Can  the 
farm  be  made  to  yield  to  the  man  or  woman, 
residing  upon  it  and  making  a  living  from  it, 
that  measure  of  growth  and  all-round  develop- 
ment that  the  ambitious  person  wishes  to  attain  ? 
And  our  answer  is,  Yes.  In  its  work,  its  leisure, 
its  field  for  service,  it  may  minister  to  sound 
culture.  If  you  love  the  life  and  work  of  the 
farm,  do  not  hesitate  to  choose  that  occupation 
for  fear  of  becoming  narrow  or  stunted.  You 
can  live  there  the  full,  free  life.  You  can  grow 
to  your  full  stature  there.  You  can  get  culture 
from  the  corn  lot.  ) 


THE  AGENCIES  OF  PROGRESS 


CHAPTER  VI 
EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER 

The  two  generations  living  subsequent  to  the 
year  1875  are  to  be  witnesses  of  an  era  in  Ameri- 
can history  that  will  be  known  as  the  age  of 
industrial  education.  These  years  are  to  be  the 
boundaries  of  a  period  when  the  general  prin- 
ciple that  every  individual  shall  be  properly 
trained  for  his  or  her  occupation  in  life  is  to 
receive  its  practical  application.  Future  genera- 
tions will  doubtless  extend  marvelously  the 
limits  to  which  the  principle  can  be  pushed  in 
its  ministrations  to  human  endeavor,  but  we  are 
in  the  time  when  the  principle  is  first  to  receive 
general  acceptation  and  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
fundamentally  necessary  fact  of  human  prog- 
ress. 

We  are  already  "witnesses  of  the  light." 
Even  within  the  memory  of  young  men  has  it 
come  to  pass  that  the  old  wine  skins  of  the  old 
educational  institutions  have  been  filled  with 
the  new  wine  of  science  and  of  knowledge  and 
training  applied  to  the  industries  and  businesses 
of  life. 

77 


78  CHAPTERS  IN  RUR\L  PROGRESS 

Agriculture  has  perhaps  been  slow  to  feel  the 
current  of  the  new  wine  as  it  flows  from  the 
wine  press  of  fast-growing  industrial  and  social 
need.  But  the  least  hopeful  of  us  can,  I  am 
sure,  already  see  signs  of  a  vast  awakening. 
The  farm,  as  well  as  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  the 
schoolroom,  the  shop,  the  counting-room,  is 
breathing  in  the  new  idea  that  knowledge  and 
training  can  be  made  of  use  to  every  man. 

This  awakening  is  due  not  merely  to  the  de- 
sire of  agriculturists  to  be  in  fashion,  nor  to  the 
efforts  of  agricultural  pedagogues,  but  to  a  real 
need.  It  is  common  knowledge  that  in  America 
we  have  not  farmed,  but  have  mined  the  soil. 
We  have  "skimmed  the  cream"  of  fertility,  and 
passed  on  to  conquer  new  areas  of  virgin  soil. 
This  pioneer  farming  has  required  hard  work, 
enterprise,  courage,  and  all  the  noble  traits  of 
character  that  have  made  our  American  pio- 
neers famous  and  that  have  within  a  century 
subdued  a  wilderness  to  civilization.  But  the 
farmer  of  today  faces  a  new  situation.  The 
fertile  lands  are  fairly  well  occupied.  The  old 
lands  are  depleted.  These  old  lands  must  be 
handled  skilfully  if  they  are  to  produce  profit- 
ably. They  must  be  used  because  there  is  little 
else  to  use,  and  because  they  are  near  the  best 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  79 

markets.  Meantime,  scientists  have  been  study- 
ing the  deep  things  of  nature,  and  have  been 
learning  the  laws  that  govern  soil,  plant,  and 
animal.  Thus  we  have  the  farmer's  need  met 
by  the  theorist's  discoveries.  The  farmer,  to 
avail  himself  of  these  discoveries  must  know 
their  meaning  and  be  able  to  apply  the  general 
principle  to  the  specific  case.  This  means  agri- 
cultural education. 

Then  again,  the  consumption  of  high-class 
products  increases  at  least  as  rapidly  as  does  our 
wealth.  The  demand  comes  not  alone  from  the 
rich,  but  from  the  middle  classes  of  our  cities. 
Skilled  artisans  are  large  consumers  of  choice 
meats,  fruits,  and  vegetables.  To  grow  these 
high-grade  products  means  skill,  and  skill 
means  training,  and  training  in  the  large  sense 
means  education. 

The  need  for  agricultural  education,  is,  then, 
a  real  and  vital  one.  It  is  pressed  upon  us  by 
economic  and  social  conditions.  It  is  in  line 
with  the  movement  of  the  age. 

In  discussing  agricultural  education,  we  must 
not  forget  that  the  farmer  is  also  a  citizen  and  a 
man.  He  should  be  an  intelligent  citizen,  and 
should  therefore  study  questions  of  government. 
As  a  man,  he  should  be  the  equal  of  other  men 


80  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  his  same  social  rank.  He  therefore  needs  a 
good  general  education.  He  is  more  than  mere 
farmer.  While  as  farmer  he  must  connect  his 
business  with  its  environment  and  out  of  his 
surroundings  gain  sound  culture;  while  he 
should  know  nature,  not  only  as  its  master,  but 
as  its  friend;  he  should  also  be  in  sympathy 
with  all  that  makes  modern  civilization  worth 
while.  And  even  as  mere  farmer,  he  finds  him- 
self face  to  face  with  grave  social  problems. 
He  must  not  only  produce  but  he  must  sell, 
and  his  selling  powers  are  governed  by  condi- 
tions of  the  market,  by  transportation  facilities 
and  practices,  and  are  affected  by  the  laws  of 
the  land.  Hence  he  must  be  a  student  of  these 
problems  and  must  know  the  broad  phases  of 
agriculture  and  its  relations  to  other  industries. 
No  intelligent  man  doubts  the  need  of  agri- 
cultural education.  Let  us,  then,  say  a  word 
about  the  kind  of  education  demanded.  This 
question  is  settled  very  largely  by  the  discussion 
we  have  just  had  about  the  need  of  this  educa- 
tion. First  of  all,  this  education  will  give  a  fair 
mastery  of  the  principles  that  govern  proper 
soil  management  and  plant  and  animal  growth. 
This  is  fundamental.  The  farmer  is  dealing 
with  natural  laws,  and  he  must  know  in  them 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  81 

their  applications.  He  cannot  be  blind  to  their 
dominance.  They  insist  on  recognition.  They 
are  jealous  masters  and  good  servants.  Nature 
serves  only  the  man  who  obeys  her.  To  obey  he 
must  know.  The  truth  shall  make  him  free. 
How  to  secure  larger  crops  of  better  products 
at  less  cost  and  still  maintain  soil  fertility,  is 
the  first  demand  of  modern  agriculture,  and 
its  solution  depends  in  large  measure  upon 
education. 

But  education  does  not  stop  here.  The 
farmer  is  also  a  seller  as  well  as  a  producer. 
He  is  a  business  man.  He  is  manager  of  an 
industry.  He  is  an  investor  of  capital.  So  the 
question  will  arise,  Can  he  get  any  help  from 
education  in  the  handling  of  the  business  phases 
of  his  farm?  He  certainly  can.  You  cannot 
teach  a  man  business  in  the  sense  of  supplying 
him  with  good  sense,  business  judgment,  ability 
to  handle  men,  and  so  on.  But  you  can  study 
the  general  conditions  that  govern  the  business 
of  agriculture,  and  you  can  report  the  results  of 
your  researches  to  the  practical  farmer;  and  he, 
if  he  is  willing,  may  learn  much  that  will  be 
helpful  to  him  in  deciding  the  many  difficult 
questions  that  confront  him  as  a  business  man. 
Farm  administration  in  its  largest  sense  will, 


82  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

then,  be  a  most  important  phase  of  agricultural 
education. 

It  is  quite  possible  for  the  individual  farmer  to 
succeed  admirably  if  he  is  equipped  with  a 
sound  training  in  the  principles  of  production 
and  in  farm  management.  But  there  are  still 
larger  questions  that  farmers  as  a  class  must 
meet  if  agriculture  is  to  have  its  full  success  and 
if  the  farmer  himself  is  to  occupy  the  social  posi- 
tion he  ought  to  have.  Agriculture  is  an  in- 
dustry among  industries.  Farmers  are  a  class 
among  classes.  As  an  industry,  agriculture  has 
relations  to  other  industries.  It  is  subject  to 
economic  laws.  It  involves  something  more 
than  growing  and  selling.  The  nature  of  the 
market,  railroad  rates,  effects  of  the  tariff  and 
of  taxation,  are  questions  vital  to  agriculture. 
So  with  the  farmers  socially  considered.  Their 
opportunities  for  social  life,  their  school  facili- 
ties, their  church  privileges,  their  associations 
and  organizations — all  these  are  important 
matters.  So  agricultural  education  will  not 
fail  to  call  attention  to  these  larger  questions. 

The  well-educated  farmer  will,  then,  be 
trained  in  three  lines  of  thought — first,  that 
which  deals  with  the  growth  of  products; 
second,  that  which  deals  with  the  selling  of 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  83 

products;  and  third,  that  which  deals  with  agri- 
culture as  an  industry  and  farmers  as  a  class  of 
people. 

We  may  next  discuss  as  briefly  as  possible  the 
methods  by  which  agricultural  education  may 
be  advanced.  We  may  not  consider  all  of  them, 
but  rather  attend  only  to  some  of  those  agencies 
that  seem  of  peculiar  interest  just  at  this  time. 

There  is  one  underlying  requisite  of  success- 
ful agricultural  education  that  is  all-important. 
It  is  faith  in  agriculture.  Any  man  to  succeed 
grandly  must  have  absolute  faith  in  his  business. 
So  the  farmer  must  believe  in  agriculture.  Agri- 
culture cannot  attain  its  highest  rank  unless  the 
men  engaged  in  it  believe  in  it  most  profoundly. 
They  must  believe  that  a  man  can  make  money 
in  farming.  They  must  love  the  farm  life  and 
surroundings.  They  must  believe  that  the  best 
days  of  agriculture  are  ahead  of  us,  not  behind 
us.  They  must*  believe  that  men  can  find  in 
agriculture  a  chance  to  use  brains  and  to  develop 
talents  and  to  utilize  education.  Agricultural 
education  rests  on  this  faith.  Give  us  a  state 
filled  with  such  farmers  and  we  can  guarantee  a 
strong  system  of  agricultural  education.  But 
the  seeds  of  education  cannot  grow  in  a  soil 
barren  of  the  richness  of  sentiment  for  and  confi- 


84  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

dence  in  the  farm.  Our  agricultural  colleges 
have  been  criticized  because  they  have  gradu- 
ated so  few  farmers.  But  the  fault  is  not  all 
with  the  colleges.  The  farmers  also  are  to 
blame.  They  have  not  had  faith  enough  in  the 
farm  to  advise  young  men  to  go  to  college  to 
prepare  for  farming.  They  admit  the  value  of 
education  for  the  law,  for  building  railroads,  but 
not  for  farming.  This  must  be  changed,  is 
being  changed.  The  last  ten  years  have  seen 
a  revolution  in  this  respect,  and  the  result  is  a 
mighty  increase  in  agricultural  educational 
interest. 

One  powerful  means  of  agricultural  education 
is  the  farmers'  organization  or  association.  All 
our  dairy,  horticultural,  poultry,  and  live-stock 
associations  are  great  educators.  So  of  an  or- 
ganization like  the  Grange,  its  chief  work  is 
education.  It  brings  mind  in  contact  with 
mind;  it  gives  chance  for  discussion  and  inter- 
change of  ideas;  it  trains  in  power  of  expres- 
sion; it  teaches  the  virtue  of  co-operation. 
Farmers  blunder  when  they  fail  to  encourage 
organization.  Sometimes,  out  of  foolish  notions 
of  independence,  they  neglect  to  unite  their 
forces.  They  are  utterly  blind  to  their  best 
interests  when  they  do  so.    They  should  en- 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  85 

courage  organization  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
for  the  splendid  educational  advantages  that 
flow  from  it. 

However,  our  chief  interest  is,  perhaps,  in 
those  institutions  that  are  formed  purposely  and 
especially  for  agricultural  education  and  which 
are  usually  supported  out  of  public  funds. 
There  are  three  great  fields  of  endeavor  in  which 
these  institutions  are  working.  The  first  step 
is  to  know — to  know  the  truth.  So  in  agricul- 
ture we  must  know.  Know  what  ?  Know  how 
nature  works.  So  the  man  of  science  studies  the 
soil  and  finds  out  what  plant-food  it  contains, 
how  the  water  acts  in  it,  what  heat  and  air  do, 
and  the  inter-relation  of  all  these  elements.  He 
studies  the  plant  and  its  habits  and  tries  to  dis- 
cover how  it  grows  and  how  it  can  be  improved 
for  man's  use.  He  studies  the  animal  and  en- 
deavors to  learn  what  are  the  best  foods  for  it 
and  what  laws  govern  its  adaptation  to  human 
food.  He  studies  climate  and  tries  to  find  out 
what  plants  and  animals  are  most  appropriate 
to  different  locations.  He  studies  injurious  in- 
sects and  diseases  and  devises  remedies  for 
them.  He  discovers,  experiments.  So  we  have 
research  as  the  first  term  in  agricultural 
education.    The  institutions  of  research  are  our 


86  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

experiment  stations  and  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture.  Their  work  may  be 
likened  to  the  plowing  of  the  field.  They  strive 
to  know  how  nature  works,  and  how  man  can 
make  use  of  her  laws  in  the  growing  of  plant  and 
animal. 

The  next  thing  is  to  teach.  The  farmer  too 
must  know.  Knowledge  confined  to  the  scien- 
tist has  little  practical  use.  It  is  the  farmer  who 
can  use  it.  Moreover,  new  teachers  must  be 
trained,  new  experimenters  equipped,  and 
leaders  in  every  direction  prepared.  So  we  have 
agricultural  colleges  and  schools.  If  experi- 
ment is  to  be  likened  to  plowing,  the  work  of 
the  schools  may  be  compared  to  sowing  and 
cultivating. 

Agricultural  colleges  have  been  in  existence  in 
America  almost  fifty  years.  Their  careers  have 
been  both  inspiring  and  disappointing.  They 
have  had  to  train  their  own  teachers,  create  a 
body  of  knowledge,  break  down  the  bars  of  edu- 
cational prejudice.  This  work  has  taken  time. 
The  results  justify  the  time  and  effort.  For 
today  agricultural  education  is  becoming  organ- 
ized, the  subjects  of  study  are  well  planned,  and 
competent  men  are  teaching  and  experimenting. 
The  disappointment  is  twofold.     They  have  not 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  87 

graduated  as  many  farmers  as  they  should  have. 
This  is  due  not  wholly  to  wrong  notions  in  the 
colleges.  It  is,  as  suggested  before,  partly  due 
to  the  lack  of  faith  in  agriculture  on  the  part  of 
the  farmers  themselves.  But  the  colleges  are  in 
part  to  blame.  Many  of  them  have  not  been  in 
close  touch  with  the  farmers.  They  have  often 
been  out  of  sympathy  with  the  interests  of  the 
farmers.  They  have  too  frequently  been  ser- 
vile imitators  of  the  traditions  of  the  older  col- 
leges, instead  of  striking  out  boldly  on  a  line 
of  original  and  helpful  work  for  agriculture.  To- 
day, however,  we  see  a  rapid  change  going  on  in 
most  of  our  agricultural  colleges.  They  are  seek- 
ing to  help  solve  the  farmers'  difficulties.  They 
are  training  young  men  for  farm  life.  The  farm- 
ers are  responding  to  this  new  interest  and  are 
beginning  to  have  great  confidence  in  the  colleges. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  most  farmers  who 
get  an  agricultural  education  cannot  be  trained 
in  the  colleges.  Doub  less  this  is  true.  Prob- 
ably a  very  small  proportion  even  of  educated 
farmers  can  or  will  graduate  from  a  full  course 
in  an  agricultural  college.  Many  will  do  so. 
There  is  no  reason  why  a  large  proportion 
of  the  graduates  of  our  college  courses  in 
agriculture  may  not  go  to  the  farm.    I  have 


88  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

no  sympathy  with  the  idea  that  those  courses 
are  too  elaborate  for  those  young  men  who  want 
to  farm.  It  must  be  recognized,  however,  that 
even  if  our  agricultural  colleges  shall  graduate 
hundreds  and  thousands  every  year  who  return 
to  the  farm,  it  still  leaves  the  great  majority  of 
farmers  untouched  in  an  educational  way  unless 
other  means  are  devised.  But  there  are  other 
means  at  hand. 

We  have  first  the  agricultural  school.  The 
typical  agricultural  high  school  gives  a  course  of 
two  or  three  years,  offering  work  of  high-school 
grade  in  mathematics  and  English,  with  about 
half  the  time  devoted  to  teaching  in  agriculture. 
Many  young  men  want  to  get  an  insight  into 
the  principles  of  modern  agriculture,  but  can- 
not afford  time  or  money  for  college  work. 
This  course  fits  their  need.  A  splendid  school  of 
this  design  has  been  in  successful  operation  in 
Minnesota  for  more  than  a  dozen  years,  and  has 
nearly  five  hundred  students.  In  Wisconsin 
there  are  two  county  schools  of  agriculture  for  a 
similar  purpose.    Other  schools  could  be  named. 

The  agricultural  colleges  also  offer  shorter 
courses  of  college  grade,  perhaps  of  two  years. 
These  are  very  practical  and  useful  courses. 
Not  only  that,  but  nearly  all  the  colleges  give 


EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  89 

special  winter  courses  of  from  ten  days  to  four- 
teen weeks.  These  are  patronized  by  thou- 
sands of  young  men.  So  in  many  ways  are  the 
colleges  meeting  the  need.  We  all  agree  that  it 
is  desirable  for  a  young  man  to  take  a  full  col- 
lege course,  even  in  agriculture.  But  it  is  better 
to  have  a  half -loaf  than  no  bread.  Yes,  better 
to  have  a  slice  than  no  bread.  The  colleges  fur- 
nish the  whole  loaf,  the  half -loaf,  and  the  slice* 
And  young  men  are  nourished  by  all. 

One  reason  why  agricultural  education  has 
not  made  more  rapid  progress  is  because  the 
children  of  the  country  schools  have  been  taught 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  lead  them  to  think  that 
there  is  no  chance  for  brains  in  farming.  Both 
their  home  influence  and  their  school  atmos- 
phere have,  in  most  cases  perhaps,  been  working 
against  their  choice  of  agriculture  as  a  vocation. 
It  therefore  becomes  important  that  these  chil- 
dren shall  be  so  taught  that  they  can  see  the 
opportunity  in  farming.  They  must,  more- 
over, be  so  trained  that  they  will  be  nature 
students;  for  the  farmer  above  all  men  must  be 
a  nature  student.  So  we  see  the  need  of  intro- 
ducing into  our  rural  schools  nature-study  for 
the  young  pupils  and  elementary  agriculture  for 
the  older  ones.    This  is  being  successfully  ac- 


9©  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

complished  in  many  cases,  and  is  arousing  the 
greatest  interest  and  meeting  with  gratifying 
success.  We  shall  within  ten  years  have  a  new 
generation  of  young  men  and  women  ready  for 
college  who  have  had  their  eyes  opened  as  never 
before  to  the  beauties  of  nature  and  to  the  fasci- 
nation there  is  in  the  farmer's  task  of  using 
nature  for  his  own  advantage. 

But  when  we  have  increased  the  attendance 
at  our  agricultural  colleges  tenfold;  when  we 
have  hundreds  of  agricultural  schools  teaching 
thousands  of  our  youth  the  fundamentals  of 
agriculture ;  when  each  rural  school  in  our  broad 
land  is  instilling  into  the  minds  of  children  the 
nearness  and  beauty  of  nature  and  is  teaching 
the  young  eyes  to  see  and  the  young  ears  to 
hear  what  God  hath  wrought  in  his  many  works 
of  land  and  sea  and  sky,  in  soil,  and  plant,  and 
living  animal — even  when  that  happy  day  shall 
dawn  will  we  find  multitudes  of  men  and  women 
on  our  farms  still  untouched  by  agricultural 
education.  These  people  must  be  reached. 
The  mere  fact  that  their  school  days  are  forever 
behind  them  is  no  reason  why  they  shall  not  re- 
ceive somewhat  of  the  inspiration  and  guidance 
that  flow  from  the  schools.  So  we  have  an  im- 
perative demand  for  the  extension  of  agricul- 


/ 

EDUCATION  FOR  THE  FARMER  91 

tural  teaching  out  from  the  schools  to  the  farm 
community.  The  school  thus  not  only  sheds 
its  light  upon  those  who  are  within  its  gates,  but 
sets  out  on  the  beautiful  errand  of  carrying  this 
same  light  into  every  farm  home  in  the  land. 
This  work  is  being  done  today  by  thousands  of 
farmers'  institutes,  by  demonstrations  in  spray- 
ing and  in  many  other  similar  lines,  by  home- 
study  courses  and  correspondence  courses,  by 
co-operative  experiments,  by  the  distribution  of 
leaflets  and  bulletins,  by  lectures  at  farmers' 
gatherings,  by  traveling  schools  of  dairying. 
These  methods  and  others  like  them  are  being 
invoked  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  to  the 
farmers  in  their  homes  and  neighborhoods  some 
of  the  benefits  that  the  colleges  and  schools  be- 
stow upon  their  pupils. 

We  have  seen  something  of  the  need  of  agri- 
cultural education,  of  the  kind  of  education 
required,  and  of  the  means  used  to  secure  it. 
Does  not  this  discussion  at  least  show  the  su- 
preme importance  of  the  question?  Will  not 
the  farmers  rally  themselves  to  and  league  them- 
selves with  the  men  who  are  trying  to  forward 
the  best  interests  of  the  farm?  Shall  we  not 
all  work  together  for  the  betterment  both  of  the 
farm  and  of  the  farmer  ? 


CHAPTER  VII 
FARMERS'  INSTITUTES 

A  decade  and  a  half  ago,  there  was  a  vig- 
orous campaign  for  the  establishment  of  uni- 
versity extension  throughout  the  United  States. 
Generally  speaking  the  campaign  was  a  losing 
one — with  but  a  few  successes  amid  general 
failure.  But  many  years  before  this  agitation, 
there  was  begun  a  work  among  farmers,  which 
in  form  and  spirit  was  university  extension,  and 
which  has  constantly  developed  until  it  is  today 
one  of  the  most  potent  among  the  forces  making 
for  rural  progress.  This  work  has  been  done 
chiefly  by  what  are  now  universally  known  as 
farmers'  institutes. 

The  typical  farmers'  institute  is  a  meeting 
usually  lasting  two  days,  held  for  the  purpose  of 
discussing  subjects  that  relate  to  the  interests  of 
farmers,  more  particularly  those  of  a  practical 
character.  As  a  rule,  the  speakers  to  whom 
set  topics  are  assigned  are  composed  of  two 
classes:  the  first  class  is  made  up  of  experts, 
either  professors  or  experimenters  in  agricul- 
tural colleges  and  similar  institutions,  or  prac- 

93 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  93 

tical  farmers  who  have  made  such  a  study  of, 
and  such  a  conspicuous  success  in,  some  branch 
of  agriculture  that  they  may  well  be  called 
experts;  the  second  class  comprises  farmers 
living  in  the  locality  in  which  the  institute  is 
held.  The  experts  are  expected  to  understand 
general  principles  or  methods,  and  the  local 
speakers  the  conditions  peculiar  to  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

The  meeting  usually  begins  in  the  forenoon 
and  ends  with  the  afternoon  session  of  the  second 
day — five  sessions  being  held.  As  a  rule,  not 
over  two  or  three  separate  topics  are  treated  in 
any  one  session,  and  in  a  well-planned  institute 
topics  of  a  like  character  are  grouped  together, 
so  that  there  may  be  a  fruit  session,  a  dairy  ses- 
sion, etc.  Each  topic  is  commonly  introduced 
by  a  talk  or  paper  of  twenty  to  forty  minutes' 
length.  This  is  followed  by  a  general  discussion 
in  which  those  in  the  audience  are  invited  to  ask 
questions  of  the  speaker  relevant  to  the  topic 
under  consideration,  or  to  express  opinions  and 
give  experiences  of  their  own. 

This  is  a  rough  outline  of  the  average  farmers' 
institute,  but  of  course  there  are  many  varia- 
tions. There  are  one-day  meetings  and  there 
are  three-day  meetings,  and  in  recent  years  the 


94  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

one-day  meetings  have  grown  in  favor;  in  some 
states  local  speakers  take  little  part;  in  some 
institutes  a  question-box  is  a  very  prominent 
feature,  in  others  it  is  omitted  altogether;  in 
some  cases  the  evening  programme  is  made  up 
of  educational  topics,  or  of  home  topics,  or  is 
even  arranged  largely  for  amusement;  in  other 
instances  the  evening  session  is  omitted.  In 
most  institutes  women  are  recognized  through 
programme  topics  of  special  interest  to  them. 

It  is  not  important  to  trace  the  early  history 
of  the  farmers'  institute  movement,  and  indeed 
it  is  not  very  easy  to  say  precisely  when  and 
where  the  modern  institute  originated.  Farm- 
ers' meetings  of  various  sorts  were  held  early 
in  the  century.  As  far  back  as  1853  the  secre- 
tary of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture 
recommended  that  farmers'  institutes  be  made 
an  established  means  of  agricultural  education. 
By  1 87 1  Illinois  and  Iowa  held  meetings  called 
farmers'  institutes,  itinerant  in  character,  and 
designed  to  call  together  both  experts  and 
farmers,  but  neither  state  kept  up  the  work  sys- 
tematically. Both  Vermont  and  New  Hamp- 
shire have  held  institutes  annually  since  1871, 
though  they  did  not  bear  that  name  in  the  early 
years.     Michigan  has  a  unique  record,  having 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  95 

held  regularly,  since  1876,  annual  farmers'  insti- 
tutes, "so  known  and  designated,"  which  al- 
ways have  contained  practically  the  essential 
features  of  the  present-day  institute.  The 
Michigan  legislature  passed  a  law  in  186 1  pro- 
viding for  "lectures  to  others  than  students  of 
the  Agricultural  College,"  and  has  made  bien- 
nial appropriations  for  institutes  since  1877. 
Ohio,  in  1881,  extended  the  institute  idea  to 
include  every  county  in  the  state. 

More  important  than  the  origin  of  the  farmers' 
institute  movement  is  the  present  status.  Prac- 
tically every  state  and  territory  in  the  Union 
carries  on  institutes  under  some  form  or  other. 
In  somewhat  more  than  half  the  states,  the 
authorities  of  the  land-grant  colleges  have  charge 
of  the  work.  In  the  other  states,  the  board  of 
agriculture  or  the  department  of  agriculture  has 
control. 

In  1905-6  there  were  held  3,500  institutes,  in 
45  states  and  territories,  with  a  total  reported 
attendance  of  1,300,000  people,  at  a  cost  of 
nearly  $350,000.  The  work  is  largely  supported 
by  the  state  treasuries,  some  of  the  states  show- 
ing a  most  generous  spirit.  The  annual  state 
appropriations  for  the  work  in  leading  institute 
states  are  as  follows:  Pennsylvania,    $20,500; 


96  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

New  York,  $20,000;  Minnesota,  $18,000;  Illi- 
nois, $17,150;  Ohio,  $16,747;  Wisconsin, 
$12,000;  Indiana,  $10,000.  In  these  states 
practically  every  county  has  annually  from  one 
to  five  institutes. 

Institutes  in  no  two  states  are  managed  in  the 
same  way,  but  the  system  has  fitted  itself  to 
local  notions  and  perhaps  to  local  needs.  A 
rough  division  may  be  made — those  states 
which  have  some  form  of  central  control  and 
those  which  do  not  have.  Even  among  states 
having  a  central  management  are  found  all 
degrees  of  centralization;  Wisconsin  and  Ohio 
may  be  taken  as  the  extremes.  In  Wisconsin 
the  director  of  institutes,  who  is  an  employee  of 
the  university,  has  practically  complete  charge 
of  the  institutes.  He  assigns  the  places  where 
the  meetings  are  to  be  held,  basing  his  decision 
upon  the  location  of  former  institutes  in  t  the 
various  counties,  upon  the  eagerness  which  the 
neighborhoods  seem  to  manifest  toward  securing 
the  institute,  etc.  He  arranges  the  programme 
for  each  meeting,  suiting  the  topics  and  speakers 
to  local  needs,  prepares  advertising  materials, 
and  sets  the  dates  of  the  meeting.  A  local  cor- 
respondent looks  after  a  proper  hall  for  meeting, 
distributes  the  advertising  posters,  and  bears  a 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  97 

certain  responsibility  for  the  success  of  the  insti- 
tute. Meetings  are  arranged  in  series,  and  a 
corps  of  two  or  three  lecturers  is  sent  by  the 
director  upon  a  week's  tour.  One  of  these  lec- 
turers is  called  a  conductor.  He  usually  pre- 
sides over  the  institute  and  keeps  the  discussions 
in  proper  channels.  Practice  makes  him  an 
expert.  The  state  lecturers  do  most  of  the 
talking.  Local  speakers  do  not  bear  any  large 
share  in  the  programme.  Questions  are  freely 
asked,  however. 

Ohio  has  an  institute  society  in  each  county, 
and  this  society  largely  controls  its  own  insti- 
tutes. The  secretary  of  the  State  Board  of 
Agriculture,  who  has  charge  of  the  system,  as- 
signs dates  and  speakers  to  each  institute. 
After  that  everything  is  in  the  hands  of  the  local 
society,  which  chooses  the  topics  to  be  presented 
by  the  state  speakers,  advertises  the  meeting, 
and  the  society  president  acts  as  presiding  offi- 
cer. Local  speakers  usually  occupy  half  the 
time. 

It  does  not  seem  as  if  either  of  these  plans  in 
its  entirety  were  ideal — the  one  an  extreme  of 
centralized  control,  the  other  an  extreme  of 
local  management.  Yet  in  practice  both  plans 
work  well.    No  states  in  the  Union  have  better 


98  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

institutes  nor  better  results  from  institute  work 
than  Wisconsin  and  Ohio.  Skill,  intelligence, 
and  tact  count  for  more  than  particular  insti- 
tutions. 

New  York  may  be  said  to  follow  the  Wisconsin 
plan.  Minnesota  goes  even  a  step  farther; 
instead  of  holding  several  series  of  institutes 
simultaneously  in  different  parts  of  the  state, 
attended  by  different  "crews,"  the  whole  corps 
of  state  speakers  attends  every  institute.  No 
set  programmes  are  arranged.  Everything  de- 
pends upon  local  conditions.  This  system  is 
expensive,  but  under  present  guidance  very 
effective.  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania have  adopted  systems  which  are  a  mean 
between  the  plan  of  centralization  and  the  plan 
of  localization.  Illinois  has  a  plan  admirably 
designed  to  encourage  local  interest,  while  pro- 
viding for  central  management. 

Few  other  states  have  carried  institute  work 
so  far  as  the  states  already  named,  and  in  some 
cases  there  seems  to  be  a  prejudice  against  a 
well-centralized  and  fully-developed  system — 
a  feeling  that  each  locality  may  be  self-sufficing 
in  institute  work.  But  this  attitude  is  wearing 
away,  for  experience  serves  to  demonstrate  fully 
the  value  of  system.    The  danger  of  centraliza- 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  99 

tion  is  bureaucracy;  but  in  institute  work,  if 
the  management  fails  to  provide  for  local  needs, 
and  to  furnish  acceptable  speakers,  vigorous 
protests  soon  correct  the  aberration. 

It  has  been  stated  that  in  America  we  have 
no  educational  system — that  spontaneity  is  the 
dominant  feature  of  American  education.  This 
is  certainly  true  of  farmers'  institutes.  So  it 
has  transpired  that  numerous  special  features 
have  come  in  to  use  in  various  states — features  of 
value  and  interest.  It  may  be  worth  while  to 
suggest  some  of  the  more  characteristic  of  these 
features,  without  attempting  an  exact  category. 

Formerly  the  only  way  in  which  women  were 
recognized  at  the  institutes  was  by  home  and 
social  topics  on  the  programme,  though  women 
have  always  attended  the  meetings  freely.  Some 
years  ago  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  added 
women  speakers  to  their  list  of  state  speakers, 
and  in  the  case  of  Wisconsin,  at  least,  held  a 
separate  session  for  women,  simultaneously  with 
one  or  two  sessions  of  the  regular  institute,  with 
demonstration  lectures  in  cooking  as  the  chief 
features.  Michigan  holds  "women's  sections" 
in  connection  with  institutes,  but  general  topics 
are  taken  up.  In  Ontario  separate  women's 
institutes  have  been  organized.    In  Illinois  a 


ioo  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

State  Association  of  Domestic  Science  has  grown 
out  of  the  institutes.  Thus  institute  work  has 
broadened  to  the  advantage  of  farm  women. 

At  many  institutes  there  are  exhibits  of 
farm  and  domestic  products — a  sort  of  mid- 
winter fair.  Oftentimes  the  merchants  of  the 
town  in  which  the  institute  is  held  offer  pre- 
miums as  an  inducement  to  the  farmers. 

In  Wisconsin  an  educational  feature  of  much 
value  takes  the  form  of  stock-judging — usually 
at  the  regular  autumn  fairs.  The  judges  give 
their  reasons  for  their  decisions,  thus  empha- 
sizing the  qualities  that  go  to  make  up  a  perfect 
or  desirable  animal. 

In  several  states  there  is  held  an  annual  state 
institute  called  a  "round-up,"  "closing  insti- 
tute," or  the  like.  It  is  intended  to  be  a  largely 
attended  and  representative  state  convention  of 
agriculturists,  for  the  purpose  of  discussing 
topics  of  general  interest  to  men  and  women 
from  the  farms.  These  meetings  are  frequently 
very  large  and  enthusiastic  gatherings. 

The  county  institute  society  is  a  part  of  the 
organization  in  some  instances  very  well  de- 
veloped. It  gives  permanency  to  the  work  and 
arouses  local  interest  and  pride. 

The  development  of  men  and  women  into 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  ioi 

suitable  state  speakers  is  an  interesting  phase. 
As  a  rule  the  most  acceptable  speakers  are  men 
who  have  made  a  success  in  some  branch  of 
farming,  and  who  also  have  cultivated  the  gift 
of  clear  and  simple  expression.  Not  a  few  of 
these  men  become  adepts  in  public  speaking 
and  achieve  a  reputation  outside  of  their  own 
states.  In  several  states  there  is  held  a  "nor- 
mal institute" — an  autumn  meeting  lasting  a 
week  or  two  weeks,  and  bringing  together, 
usually  at  the  state  college  of  agriculture,  the 
men  who  are  to  give  the  lectures  at  the  institutes 
of  the  winter  to  follow.  The  object  of  the 
gathering  is  to  bring  the  lecturers  into  close 
contact  with  the  latest  things  in  agricultural 
science,  and  to  train  them  for  more  effective 
work. 

A  few  years  ago  the  United  States  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  employed  an  experienced 
institute  director  to  give  all  his  time  to  the  study 
and  promotion  of  farmers'  institutes.  This  in- 
cident is  suggestive  of  the  important  place  which 
institutes  have  secured  in  the  work  for  better 
farming. 

The  results  of  a  generation  of  institute  work 
are  not  easy  to  summarize.  It  is  safe  to  make 
a  broad  generalization  by  asserting  that  this 


102  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

form  of  agricultural  education  has  contributed 
in  a  remarkable  degree  to  better  farming.  The 
best  methods  of  farming  have  been  advocated 
from  the  institute  platform.  Agricultural  col- 
lege professors,  and  agricultural  experimenters 
have  talked  of  the  relations  of  science  to  prac- 
tical farming.  The  farmers  have  come  to  de- 
pend upon  the  institute  as  a  means  for  gaining 
up-to-date  information. 

And  if  institutes  have  informed,  they  have  also 
done  what  is  still  better — they  have  inspired. 
They  have  gone  into  many  a  dormant  farm  com- 
munity and  awakened  the  whole  neighborhood 
to  a  quicker  life.  They  have  started  discussions, 
set  men  thinking,  brought  in  a  breath  of  fresh 
air.  They  have  given  to  many  a  farmer  an 
opportunity  for  self -development  as  a.  ready 
speaker. 

Other  educational  agencies,  such  as  the  agri- 
cultural colleges  and  experiment  stations,  have 
profited  by  institutes.  No  one  thing  has  done 
more  than  the  institutes  to  popularize  agricul- 
tural education,  to  stir  up  interest  in  the  col- 
leges, to  make  the  farmers  feel  in  touch  with  the 
scientists. 

Farmers'  institutes  are  a  phase  of  university  ex- 
tension, and  it  is  as  a  part  of  the  extension  move- 


FARMERS'  INSTITUTES  103 

ment  that  they  are  bound  to  increase  in  value 
and  importance.  Reading-courses  and  corre- 
spondence-courses are  growing  factors  in  this 
extension  movement,  but  the  power  of  the 
spoken  word  is  guarantee  that  the  farmers'  insti- 
tute cannot  be  superseded  in  fact.  And  it  is 
worth  noting  again,  that  while  university  exten- 
sion has  not  been  the  success  in  this  country 
which  its  friends  of  a  decade  ago  fondly  prophe- 
sied for  it,  its  humbler  cousin — agricultural  col- 
lege extension — has  been  a  conspicuous  success, 
and  is  acquiring  a  constantly  increasing  power 
among  the  educational  agencies  that  are  trying 
to  deal  with  the  farm  problem. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT 

The  gulf  between  parent  and  teacher  is  too 
common  a  phenomenon  to  need  exposition.  The 
existence  of  the  chasm  is  probably  due  more  to 
carelessness,  to  the  pressure  of  time,  or  to  indo- 
lence than  to  any  more  serious  delinquencies; 
yet  all  will  admit  the  disastrous  effects  that  flow 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  not  the  close  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual  sympathy  that  there  should  be 
between  the  school  and  the  home.  It  needs  no 
argument  to  demonstrate  the  value  of  any  move- 
ment that  has  for  its  purpose  the  bridging  of  the 
gulf.  But  it  is  an  omen  of  encouragement  to 
find  that  there  are  forces  at  work  designed  to 
bring  teacher  and  school  patron  into  a  closer 
working  harmony.  A  statement  of  the  history 
and  methods  of  some  of  these  agencies  may 
therefore  well  have  a  place  in  a  discussion  of 
rural  progress.  For  the  movements  to  be  de- 
scribed are  essentially  rural-school  movements. 
Of  first  interest  is  an  attempt  which  has  been 
made  in  the  state  of  Michigan  to  bridge  the  gulf 
— to  create  a  common  standing-ground  for  both 

104 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  105 

teacher  and  parent — and  on  that  basis  to  carry 
on  an  educational  campaign  that  it  is  hoped  will 
result  in  the  many  desirable  conditions  which, 
a  priori,  might  be  expected  from  such  a  union. 
At  present  the  movement  is  confined  practically 
to  the  rural  schools.  It  consists  in  the  organi- 
zation of  a  county  Teachers  and  Patrons'  Asso- 
ciation, with  a  membership  of  teachers  and 
school  patrons,  properly  officered.  Its  chief 
method  of  work  is  to  hold  one  or  more  meetings 
a  year,  usually  in  the  country  or  in  small  villages, 
and  the  programme  is  designed  to  cover  educa- 
tional questions  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  of  interest 
and  profit  to  both  teachers  and  farmers. 

This  movement  was  indigenous  to  Michigan 
— its  founders  worked  out  the  scheme  on  their 
own  initiative,  and  to  this  day  its  promoters  have 
never  drawn  upon  any  resources  outside  the 
state  for  suggestion  or  plan.  But  if  the  friends 
of  rural  education  elsewhere  shall  be  attracted 
by  this  method  of  solving  one  of  the  vexed 
phases  of  their  problem,  I  hope  that  they  will 
describe  it  as  "the  Hesperia  movement."  For 
the  movement  originated  in  Hesperia,  was  de- 
veloped there,  and  its  entire  success  in  Hesperia 
was  the  reason  for  its  further  adoption.  Hes- 
peria deserves  any  renown  that  may  chance  to 


106  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

come  from  the  widespread  organization  of 
Teachers  and  Patrons'  Associations. 

And  where  is  Hesperia?  It  lies  about  forty 
miles  north  and  west  of  Grand  Rapids — a  mere 
dot  of  a  town,  a  small  country  village  at  least 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from  any  railroad.  It  is 
on  the  extreme  eastern  side  of  Oceana  County, 
surrounded  by  fertile  farming  lands,  which  have 
been  populated  by  a  class  of  people  who  may  be 
taken  as  a  type  of  progressive,  successful,  intel- 
ligent American  farmers.  Many  of  them  are  of 
Scotch  origin.  Partly  because  of  their  native 
energy,  partly,  perhaps,  because  their  isolation 
made  it  necessary  to  develop  their  own  institu- 
tions, these  people  believe  in  and  support  good 
schools,  the  Grange,  and  many  progressive  move- 
ments. 

For  several  years  there  had  existed  in  Oceana 
County  the  usual  county  teachers'  association. 
But,  because  Hesperia  was  so  far  from  the  center 
of  the  county,  and  because  it  was  not  easily 
accessible,  the  teachers  who  taught  schools  in 
the  vicinity  could  rarely  secure  a  meeting  of  the 
association  at  Hesperia ;  and  in  turn  they  found 
it  difficult  to  attend  the  meetings  held  in  the 
western  part  of  the  county.  A  few  years  ago 
it  chanced  that  this  group  of  teachers  was  com- 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  107 

posed  of  especially  bright,  energetic,  and  original 
young  men  and  women.  They  determined  to 
have  an  association  of  their  own.  It  occurred 
to  someone  that  it  would  add  strength  to  their 
organization  if  the  farmers  were  asked  to  meet 
with  them.  The  idea  seemed  to  "take,"  and 
the  meetings  became  quite  popular.  This  was 
during  the  winter  of  1885-86.  Special  credit 
for  this  early  venture  belongs  to  Mr.  E.  L. 
Brooks,  still  of  Hesperia  and  an  ex-president 
of  the  present  association,  and  to  Dr.  C.  N. 
Sowers,  of  Benton  Harbor,  Mich.,  who  was  one 
of  the  teachers  during  the  winter  named,  and 
who  was  elected  secretary  of  the  Board  of  School 
Examiners  in  1887.     Mr.  Brooks  writes: 

The  programmes  were  so  arranged  that  the  partici- 
pants in  discussions  and  in  the  reading  of  papers  were 
about  equally  divided  between  teachers  and  patrons. 
An  active  interest  was  awakened  from  the  start.  For 
one  thing,  it  furnished  a  needed  social  gathering  during 
the  winter  for  the  farmers.  The  meetings  were  held  on 
Saturdays,  and  the  schoolhouse  favored  was  usually 
well  filled.  The  meetings  were  not  held  at  ony  one 
schoolhouse,  but  were  made  to  circulate  among  the  dif- 
ferent schools.  These  gatherings  were  so  successful 
that  similar  societies  were  organized  in  other  portions 
of  the  country. 

In  1892,  Mr.  D.  E.  McClure,  who  has  since 


108  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

(1896- 1 900)  been  deputy  superintendent  of  pub- 
lic instruction  of  Michigan,  was  elected  county- 
school  commissioner  of  Oceana  County.  Mr. 
McClure  is  a  man  of  great  enthusiasm  and 
made  a  most  successful  commissioner.  He  con- 
ceived the  idea  that  this  union  of  teachers  and 
patrons  could  be  made  of  the  greatest  value, 
in  stimulating  both  teachers  and  farmers  to  re- 
newed interest  in  the  real  welfare  of  the  children 
as  well  as  a  means  of  securing  needed  reforms. 
His  first  effort  was  to  prepare  a  list  of  books 
suitable  for  pupils  in  all  grades  of  the  rural 
schools.  He  also  prepared  a  rural  lecture- 
course,  as  well  as  a  plan  for  securing  libraries 
for  the  schools.  All  these  propositions  were 
adopted  by  a  union  meeting  of  teachers  and 
farmers.  His  next  step  was  to  unite  the  interests 
of  eastern  Oceana  County  and  western  Newaygo 
County  (Newaygo  lying  directly  east  of  Oceana), 
and  in  1893  there  was  organized  the  "Oceana 
and  Newaygo  Counties  Joint  Grangers  and 
Teachers'  Association,"  the  word  "Granger" 
being  inserted  because  of  the  activity  of  the 
Grange  in  support  of  the  movement.  Mr.  Mc- 
Clure has  pardonable  pride  in  this  effort  of  his, 
and  his  own  words  will  best  describe  the  develop- 
ment of  the  movement: 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  109 

This  association  meets  Thursday  night  and  continues 
in  session  until  Saturday  night.  Some  of  the  best  speak- 
ers in  America  have  addressed  the  association.  Dr. 
Arnold  Tompkins,  in  speaking  before  the  association, 
said  it  was  a  wonderful  association  and  the  only  one  of 
its  character  in  the  United  States. 

What  was  my  ideal  in  organizing  such  associations  ? 

i.  To  unite  the  farmers  who  pay  the  taxes  that  sup- 
port the  schools,  the  home-makers,  the  teachers,  the 
pupils,  into  a  co-operative  work  for  better  rural-school 
education. 

2.  To  give  wholesome  entertainment  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, which  from  necessity  are  more  or  less  isolated. 

3.  To  create  a  taste  for  good  American  literature  in 
home  and  school,  and  higher  ideals  of  citizenship. 

4.  Summed  up  in  all,  to  make  the  rural  schools  char- 
acter-builders, to  rid  the  districts  of  surroundings  which 
destroy  character,  such  as  unkept  school  yards,  foul, 
nasty  outhouses,  poor,  unfit  teachers.  These  reforms, 
you  understand,  come  only  through  a  healthy  educational 
sentiment  which  is  aroused  by  a  sympathetic  co-operation 
of  farm,  home,  and  school. 

What  results  have  I  been  able  to  discover  growing 
out  of  this  work  ?  Ideals  grow  so  slowly  that  one  can- 
not measure  much  progress  in  a  few  years.  We  are  slaves 
to  conditions,  no  matter  how  hard,  and  we  suffer  them  to 
exist  rather  than  arouse  ourselves  and  shake  them  off. 
The  immediate  results  are  better  schools,  yards,  out- 
buildings, schoolrooms,  teachers,  literature  for  rural 
people  to  read. 

Many  a  father  and  mother  whose  lives  have  been 


no  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

broken  upon  the  wheel  of  labor  have  heard  some  of 
America's  orators,  have  read  some  of  the  world's  best 
books,  because  of  this  movement,  and  their  lives  have 
been  made  happier,  more  influential,  more  hopeful. 

Thousands  of  people  have  been  inspired,  made  better, 
atj;he  Hesperia  meetings. 

In  western  Michigan  the  annual  gathering  at 
Hesperia  is  known  far  and  wide  as  "the  big 
meeting."  The  following  extract  from  the 
Michigan  Moderator-Topics  indicates  in  the  edi- 
tor's breezy  way  the  impression  the  meeting  for 
1906  made  upon  an  observer: 

Hesperia  scores  another  success.  Riding  over  the 
fourteen  miles  from  the  railroad  to  Hesperia  with  Gover- 
nor Warner  and  D.  E.  McClure,  we  tried  to  make  the 
latter  believe  that  the  crowd  would  not  be  forthcoming 
on  that  first  night  of  the  fourteenth  annual  "big  meeting." 
It  was  zero  weather  and  mighty  breezy.  For  such  a 
movement  to  succeed  two  years  is  creditable,  to  hold 
out  for  five  is  wonderful,  to  last  ten  is  marvelous,  but  to 
grow  bigger  and  better  for  fourteen  years  is  a  little  short 
of  miraculous.  McOure  is  recognized  as  the  father  of 
the  movement  and  his  faith  didn't  waver  a  hair's  breadth. 
And  sure  enough  there  was  the  crowd — standing  room 
only,  to  hear  the  governor  and  see  the  great  cartoonist 
J.  T.  McCutcheon  of  the  Chicago  Tribune.  For  three 
evenings  and  two  days  the  big  hall  is  crowded  with 
patrons,  pupils  and  teachers  from  the  towns  and  country 
round.  During  the  fourteen  years  that  these  meetings 
have  been  held,  the  country  community  has  heard  some 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  «1 

of  the  world's  greatest  speakers.  The  plan  has  been 
adopted  by  other  counties  in  Michigan  and  other  states 
both  east  and  west.  Its  possibilities  are  well-nigh  un- 
limited and  its  power  for  good  is  immeasurable.  Every- 
one connected  with  it  may  well  feel  proud  of  the  success 
attending  the  now  famous  "Hesperia  Movement." 

In  1897,  Kent  County,  Michigan  (of  which 
Grand  Rapids  is  the  county  seat),  organized  a 
Teachers  and  Patrons'  Association  that  is  worth 
a  brief  description,  although  in  more  recent 
years  its  work  has  been  performed  by  other 
agencies.  It  nevertheless  serves  as  a  good 
example  of  a  well-organized  association  designed 
to  unite  the  school  and  home  interests  of  rural 
communities.  It  was  for  several  years  signally 
successful  in  arousing  interest  in  all  parts  of  the 
county.  Besides,  it  made  a  departure  from  the 
Oceana-Newaygo  plan  which  must  be  con- 
sidered advantageous  for  most  counties.  The 
Hesperia  meeting  is  an  annual  affair,  with  big 
crowds  and  abundant  enthusiasm.  The  Kent 
County  association  was  itinerant.  The  member- 
ship included  teachers,  school  officers,  farmers 
generally,  and  even  pupils.  An  attempt  was  made 
to  hold  monthly  meetings  during  the  school  year, 
but  for  various  reasons  only  five  or  six  meetings 
a  year  were  held.   The  meetings  usually  occurred 


H2  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

in  some  Grange  hall,  the  Grange  furnishing  en- 
tertainment for  the  guests.  There  were  usually 
three  sessions — Friday  evening  and  Saturday 
forenoon  and  afternoon.  The  average  attendance 
was  nearly  five  hundred,  about  one-tenth  being 
teachers ;  many  teachers  as  well  as  farmers  went 
considerable  distances  to  attend. 

The  Kent  County  association  did  not  collect 
any  fees  from  its  members,  the  Teachers'  Insti- 
tute fund  of  the  county  being  sufficient  to  pro- 
vide for  the  cost  of  lectures  at  the  association 
meetings.  Permission  for  this  use  of  the  fund 
was  obtained  from  the  state  superintendent  of 
public  instruction.  Some  counties  have  a  mem- 
bership fee ;  at  Hesperia,  the  fee  is  50  cents,  and 
a  membership  ticket  entitles  its  holder  to  a 
reserved  seat  at  all  sessions.  The  Kent  County 
association  also  suggested  a  reading-course  for 
its  members. 

The  success  of  the  work  in  Kent  County  was 
due  primarily  to  the  fact  that  the  educators  and 
the  farmers  and  their  leaders  are  in  especially 
close  sympathy.  And  right  there  is  the  vital 
element  of  success  in  this  work.  The  initiative 
must  be  taken  by  the  educators,  but  the  plan 
must  be  thoroughly  democratic,  and  teacher  and 
farmer  must  be  equally  recognized  in  all  particu- 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  113 

lars.  The  results  of  the  work  in  Kent  County 
were  thus  summarized  by  the  commissioner  of 
schools  of  the  county: 

To  teachers,  the  series  of  meetings  is  a  series  of  mid- 
year institutes.  Every  argument  in  favor  of  institutes 
applies  with  all  its  force  to  these  associations.  To  farmers 
they  afford  a  near-by  lecture  course,  accessible  to  all 
members  of  the  family,  and  of  as  high  grade  as  those 
maintained  in  the  larger  villages.  To  the  schools,  the 
value  is  in  the  general  sentiment  and  interest  awakened. 
The  final  vote  on  any  proposed  school  improvement  is 
taken  at  the  annual  school  meeting,  and  the  prevailing 
sentiment  in  the  neighborhood  has  everything  to  do 
with  this  vote.  And  not  only  this,  but  the  general 
interest  of  patrons  may  help  and  cheer  both  teacher  and 
pupils  throughout  the  year.  On  the  other  hand,  indif- 
ference and  neglect  may  freeze  the  life  out  of  the  most 
promising  school.  There  is  no  estimating  the  value  to 
the  schools  in  this  respect. 

The  Kent  County  association  had  a  very 
simple  constitution.  It  is  appended  here  for 
the  benefit  of  any  who  may  desire  to  begin  this 
beneficent  work  of  endeavoring  to  draw  more 
closely  together  rural  schools  and  country 
homes. 

Article  i. — Name 

This  association  shall  be  known  as  "The  Kent  County 
Teachers  and  Patrons'  Association." 


H4  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

Article  II. — Membership 

Any  person  may  become  a  member  of  this  association 
by  assenting  to  this  constitution  and  paying  the  required 
membership  fee. 

Article  III. — Objects 

The  object  of  this  association  shall  be  the  promotion 
of  better  educational  facilities  in  all  ways  and  the  en- 
couragement of  social  and  intellectual  culture  among 
its  members. 

Article  IV. — Meetings 

At  least  five  meetings  of  the  association  shall  be  held 
each  year,  during  the  months  of  October,  November, 
January,  February,  and  March,  the  dates  and  places  of 
meetings  to  be  determined  and  announced  by  the  execu- 
tive committee.  Special  meetings  may  be  called  at  the 
election  of  the  executive  committee. 

Article  V.— Officers 

Section  i.  The  officers  of  the  association  shall  be  a 
president,  a  vice-president,  a  secretary,  a  treasurer,  and 
an  executive  committee  composed  of  five  members  to 
be  appointed  by  the  president. 

Sec.  2.  The  election  of  officers  shall  occur  at  the  reg- 
ular meeting  of  the  association  in  the  month  of  October. 

Sec.  3.  The  duties  of  each  officer  shall  be  such  as 
parliamentary  usage  assigns,  respectively,  according  to 
Cushing's  Manual. 

Sec.  4.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  executive  commit- 
tee to  arrange  a  schedule  of  meetings  and  to  provide 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  115 

suitable  lecturers  and  instructors  for  the  same  on  or  be- 
fore the  first  day  of  September  of  each  year.  It  shall  be 
the  further  duty  of  this  committee  to  devise  means  to 
defray  the  expenses  incurred  for  lecturers  and  instruc- 
tors. All  meetings  shall  be  public,  and  no  charge  for 
admission  shall  be  made,  except  by  order  of  the  executive 
committee. 

Article  VI. — Course  of  Reading 

Section  i.  The  executive  committee  may  also  rec- 
ommend a  course  of  reading  to  be  pursued  by  members, 
and  it  shall  be  their  duty  to  make  such  other  recommenda- 
tions from  time  to  time  as  shall  have  for  their  object 
the  more  effective  carrying  out  of  the  purposes  of  the 
association. 

Whether  the  Oceana  County  plan  of  a  set 
annual  meeting  or  the  Kent  County  plan  of 
numerous  itinerant  meetings  is  the  better  one 
depends  much  on  the  situation.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  itinerant  meetings,  with  an  annual 
"round-up"  meeting  of  the  popular  type  as  the 
great  event  of  the  school  year,  would  be  very 
satisfactory. 

Other  counties  in  the  state  have  taken  up  the 
Hesperia  idea.  In  some  cases  associations 
similar  to  the  Kent  County  association  have  been 
developed.  More  recently  the  work  has  fre- 
quently been  carried  on  by  the  county  commis- 
sioner of  schools  directly.  "  Institutes  on  wheels" 


n6  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

have  become  a  factor  in  the  campaign  for  bet- 
ter rural  schools.     One  commissioner  writes : 

My  aim  has  been  to  bring  into  very  close  relationship 
teachers,  patrons,  and  pupils.  This  is  done,  in  part, 
in  the  following  manner:  I  engage,  for  a  week's  work  at 
a  time,  some  educator  of  state  or  national  reputation 
to  ride  with  me  on  my  visitation  of  schools.  Through 
the  day,  schools  are  visited,  pupils'  work  inspected,  and 
in  the  evening,  a  rally  is  held  in  the  locality  visited  in 
that  day.  A  circuit  is  made  during  the  week,  and  Friday 
evening  and  the  Saturday  following  a  general  round-up 
is  held.  The  results  of  this  work  have  been  far  reach- 
ing. Teachers,  patrons,  and  pupils  are  brought  into 
close  relationship  and  a  higher  standard  of  education 
is  developed. 

The  form  of  organization  matters  little.  The 
essential  idea  of  the  "Hesperia  movement  "was 
to  bring  together  the  teacher  and  the  school  pa- 
tron on  a  common  platform,  to  a  common 
meeting-place,  to  discuss  subjects  of  common 
interest.  This  idea  must  be  vitalized  in  the 
rural  community  before  that  progress  in  rural- 
school  matters  which  we  desire  shall  become  a 
fact. 

It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  administrators  of 
rural-school  systems  in  several  states  are  at- 
tempting in  one  way  or  another,  and  have  done 
so  for  some  years,  to  bring  together  teachers 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  117 

and  school  patrons.  In  Iowa  there  are  mothers' 
clubs  organized  for  the  express  purpose  of  pro- 
moting the  best  interests  of  the  schools.  In 
many  of  the  communities  the  county  superin- 
tendent organizes  excursions,  and  holds  school 
contests  which  are  largely  attended  by  patrons 
of  the  schools. 

Ohio  has  what  is  known  as  the  "  Ohio  School 
Improvement  Federation."  Its  objects  are: 
(1)  to  create  a  wholesome  educational  sentiment 
in  the  citizenship  of  the  state;  (2)  to  remove 
the  school  from  partisan  politics;  (3)  to  make 
teaching  a  profession,  protected  and  justly  com- 
pensated. County  associations  of  the  federa- 
tion are  being  organized  and  the  effort  is  being 
made  to  reach  the  patrons  of  the  schools  and  to 
create  the  right  public  sentiment.  In  many  of 
the  teachers'  institutes  there  is  one  session  de- 
voted entirely  to  subjects  that  are  of  special  in- 
terest to  the  school-board  members  and  to  the 
patrons  of  the  schools.  Educational  rallies  are 
held  in  many  of  the  townships,  at  which  effort 
is  made  to  get  together  all  the  citizens  and  have 
an  exhibit  of  school  work. 

In  Minnesota,  a  law  was  passed  recently  to  the 
effect  that  school  officers  within  a  county  may 
attend  one  educational  convention  a  year  upon 


n8  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

call  of  the  county  superintendent.  They  receive 
therefor,  three  dollars  for  one  day's  services  and 
five  cents  mileage  each  way  for  attendance. 
Already  a  number  of  very  successful  conven- 
tions have  been  held,  wherein  all  school  districts 
in  the  counties  have  been  represented. 

The  county  institutes  in  Pennsylvania  are 
largely  attended  by  the  public  and  are  designed 
to  reach  patrons  as  well  as  teachers. 

In  Kansas,  county  superintendents  have  or- 
ganized school-patrons'  associations  and  school- 
board  associations,  both  of  which  definitely 
purpose  to  bring  together  the  school  and  the 
home  and  the  officers  of  the  school  into  one 
body  and  to  co-operate  with  individuals  for  the 
purpose  of  bettering  the  school  conditions. 

Doubtless  other  states  are  carrying  on  similar 
methods. 

An  interesting  movement  wholly  independent 
of  the  Hesperia  plan  has  recently  been  put  into 
operation  under  the  leadership  of  Principal 
Myron  T.  Scudder  of  the  State  Normal  School, 
New  Paltz,  N.  Y.  He  has  organized  a  series  ol 
country-school  conferences.  They  grew  out  oi 
a  recognized  need,  but  were  an  evolution  rathei 
than  a  definite  scheme.  The  school  commis- 
sioner, the  teachers,  and  the  Grange  people  ol 


THE  HESPERIA  MOVEMENT  119 

the  community  have  joined  in  making  up  the 
conference.  An  attempt  is  also  made  to  interest 
the  pupils.  At  one  conference  there  was  organ- 
ized an  athletic  league  for  the  benefit  of  the  boys 
of  the  country  school.  The  practical  phases  of 
nature-study  and  manual  training  are  treated 
on  the  programme,  and  at  least  one  session  is 
made  a  parents'  meeting.  There  is  no  organi- 
zation whatever. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Winship,  of  the  Journal  oj  Educa- 
tion, Boston,  had  the  following  editorial  in  the 
issue  of  June  21,  1906: 

It  is  now  fourteen  years  since  D.  E.  McClure  spoke 
into  being  the  Hesperia  movement,  which  is  a  great 
union  of  educational  and  farmer  forces,  in  a  midwinter 
Chautauqua,  as  it  were.  Twelve  miles  from  the  rail- 
road, in  the  slight  village  of  Hesperia,  a  one-street  village, 
one  side  of  the  street  being  in  one  county  and  the  other 
side  in  another,  for  three  days  and  evenings  in  midwinter 
each  year,  in  a  ramshackle  building,  eight  hundred 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  two  counties  sit  in  reserved 
seats,  for  which  they  pay  a  good  price,  and  listen  to  one 
or  two  notable  speakers  and  a  number  of  local  function- 
aries. One-half  of  the  time  is  devoted  to  education  and 
the  other  to  farm  interests. 

It  is  a  great  idea,  well  worked  out,  and  after  fourteen 
years  it  maintains  its  lustiness,  but  I  confess  to  disappoint- 
ment that  the  idea  has  not  spread  more  extensively. 
It  is  so  useful  there,  and  the  idea  is  so  suggestive,  that 


120  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

it  should  have  been  well-nigh  universal,  and  yet  despite 
occasional  bluffs  at  it,  I  know  of  no  serious  effort  to 
adopt  it  elsewhere,  unless  the  midwinter  meeting  at 
Shelby,  in  one  of  these  two  counties,  can  be  considered 
a  spread  of  the  idea.  This  child  of  the  Hesperia  move- 
ment, in  one  of  the  two  counties,  and  only  twenty  miles 
away,  had  this  year  many  more  in  attendance  than  have 
ever  been  at  Hesperia. 

This  work  of  uniting  more  closely  the  interests, 
sympathies,  and  intelligence  of  the  teachers  and 
patrons  of  the  rural  school  has  had  a  test  in 
Michigan  of  sufficient  length  to  prove  that  it  is 
a  practicable  scheme.  No  one  questions  the  de- 
sirability of  the  ends  it  is  prepared  to  compass, 
and  experience  in  Michigan  shows  not  only  that 
where  the  educators  have  sufficient  enterprise, 
tact,  enthusiasm,  and  persistence  the  necessary 
organizations  can  be  perfected,  but  that  sub- 
stantial results  follow.  For  the  sake  of  better 
rural  schools,  then,  it  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped 
that  the  "Hesperia  movement"  may  find  expres- 
sion in  numerous  teachers  and  patrons'  associ- 
ations in  at  least  the  great  agricultural  states. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY 

Among  the  great  phenomena  of  our  time  is 
the  growth  of  the  school  idea — the  realization 
of  the  part  that  the  school  plays  in  our  civiliza- 
tion and  in  the  training  of  our  youth  for  life. 
Our  New  England  fathers  started  the  school  in 
order  that  their  children  might  learn  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  and  thus  that  they  might  get  right 
ideas  of  their  religious  duty.  Even  after  this 
aim  was  outgrown,  our  schools  for  generations 
did  little  more  than  to  teach  the  use  of  the  mere 
tools  of  knowledge;  to  read,  to  write,  and  to 
cipher  were  the  great  gains  of  the  schoolroom. 
Even  geography  and  grammar  were  rather  late 
arrivals.  Then  came  the  idea  that  the  school 
should  train  children  for  citizenship,  and  it  was 
argued  that  the  chief  reason  why  schools  should 
be  supported  at  public  expense  was  in  order 
that  good  citizens  should  be  trained  there. 
History  and  civil  government  were  put  into  the 
course  in  obedience  to  this  theory.  Another 
step  was  taken  when  physiology  was  added, 
because  it  was  an  acknowledgment  that  the 


122  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

schools  should  do  something  to  train  youth  in 
the  individual  art  of  living.  Still  another  step 
was  taken  when  manual  training  and  domestic 
science  were  brought  into  our  city  schools,  be- 
cause these  studies  emphasize  the  fact  that  the 
schools  must  do  something  to  train  workers. 
And  finally  we  have  at  present  the  idea  gaining 
a  strong  foothold  that  the  schools  must  train  the 
child  to  fill  its  place  in  the  world  of  men ;  to  see 
all  the  relations  of  life;  to  be  fitted  to  live  in 
human  society.  This  idea  really  embraces  all 
of  the  other  ideas.  It  implies  that  the  schools 
shall  not  only  teach  each  individual  the  ele- 
ments of  knowledge,  that  they  shall  train  for 
citizenship,  that  they  shall  train  men  in  the  art 
of  living,  that  they  shall  aid  in  preparing  for  an 
occupation,  but  that  they  shall  do  all  of  these 
things,  and  do  them  not  merely  for  the  good  of 
the  individual,  but  for  the  good  of  society  as  a 
whole. 

And  not  only  is  there  a  feeling  that  the  pupil  in 
school  can  be  brought  into  closer  touch  with  the 
life  of  the  community,  but  that  the  school  as  an 
institution  can  be  made  more  useful  to  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole.  This  double  thought  has 
been  expressed  in  the  phrase,  "Make  the  school 
a  social  center,"   and  practically  it  is  being 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     123 

slowly  worked  out  in  numerous  city  schools. 
How  far  can  this  idea  be  developed  in  the  coun- 
try school  ? 

The  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  not  to  deal  in 
the  theory  of  the  subject,  nor  to  argue  particu- 
larly for  this  view  of  the  function  of  the  school, 
but  rather  to  try  to  show  some  methods  by 
which  the  rural  school  and  the  farm  community 
actually  can  be  brought  into  closer  relations. 
In  this  way  we  may  perhaps  indicate  that  there 
is  a  better  chance  for  co-operation  between  the 
rural  school  and  the  farm  community  than  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  believe,  and  that  this 
closer  relation  is  worth  striving  for.  Five 
methods  will  be  suggested  by  which  the  rural 
school  can  become  a  social  center.  Some  of 
these  have  already  been  tried  in  rural  communi- 
ties, some  of  them  have  been  tried  in  cities,  and 
some  of  them  have  not  been  tried  at  all. 

1.  The  first  means  of  making  the  rural  school 
a  social  center  is  through  the  course  of  study. 
It  is  here  that  the  introduction  of  nature-study 
into  our  rural  schools  would  be  especially  help- 
ful. This  nature-study  when  properly  followed 
approves  itself  both  to  educators  and  to  farmers. 
It  is  a  pedagogical  principle  recognized  by  every 
modern  teacher  that  in  education  it  is  necessary 


124  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

to  consider  the  environment  of  the  child,  so  that 
the  school  may  not  be  to  him  "a  thing  remote 
and  foreign."  The  value  of  nature-study  is 
recognized  not  only  in  thus  making  possible  an 
intelligent  study  of  the  country  child's  environ- 
ment, but  in  teaching  a  love  of  nature,  in  giving 
habits  of  correct  observation,  and  in  preparing 
for  the  more  fruitful  study  of  science  in  later 
years.  Our  best  farmers  are  also  coming  to  see 
that  nature-study  in  the  rural  schools  is  a  neces- 
sity, because  it  will  tend  to  give  a  knowledge  of 
the  laws  that  govern  agriculture,  because  it  will 
teach  the  children  to  love  the  country,  because 
it  will  show  the  possibilities  of  living  an  intel- 
lectual life  upon  the  farm.  Nature-study, 
therefore,  will  have  a  very  direct  influence  in 
bringing  the  child  into  close  touch  with  the 
whole  life  of  the  farm  community. 

But  it  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  introducing 
new  studies — the  old  studies  can  be  taught  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  them  seem  vital  and 
human.  Take,  for  instance,  geography.  It 
used  to  be  approached  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  solar  system.  It  now  begins  with  the 
schoolhouse  and  the  pupils'  homes,  and  works 
outward  from  the  things  that  the  child  sees  and 
knows  to  the  things  that  it  must  imagine.    His- 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     125 

tory,  writing,  reading,  the  sciences,  and  even 
other  subjects  can  be  taught  so  as  to  connect 
them  vitally  and  definitely  with  the  life  of  the 
farm  community.  To  quote  Colonel  Parker, 
who  suggests  the  valuable  results  of  such  a 
method  of  teaching: 

It  would  make  a  strong,  binding  union  of  the  home 
and  the  school,  the  farm  methods  and  the  school  methods. 
It  would  bring  the  farm  into  the  school  and  project  the 
school  into  the  farm.  It  would  give  parent  and  teacher 
one  motive  in  the  carrying  out  of  which  both  could 
heartily  join.  The  parent  would  appreciate  and  judge 
fairly  the  work  of  the  school,  the  teacher  would  honor, 
dignify  and  elevate  the  work  of  the  farm. 

The  study  of  the  landscape  of  the  near-by 
country,  the  study  of  the  streams,  the  study  of 
the  soils,  studies  that  have  to  do  with  the  loca- 
tion of  homes,  of  villages,  the  study  of  the 
weather,  of  the  common  plants,  of  domestic  ani- 
mals— all  of  these  things  will  give  the  child  a 
better  start  in  education,  a  better  comprehen- 
sion of  the  life  he  is  to  live,  a  better  idea  of  the 
business  of  farming,  a  better  notion  about  the 
importance  of  agriculture,  and  will  tend  to  fit 
him  better  for  future  life  either  on  the  farm  or 
anywhere  else,  than  could  any  amount  of  the 
old-fashioned   book  knowledge.    Is   it  not   a 


126  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

strange  fact  that  so  many  farmers  will  decry 
book  knowledge  when  applied  to  the  business  of 
farming,  and  at  the  same  time  set  so  much  store 
by  the  book  learning  that  is  given  in  the  common 
arithmetic,  the  old-fashioned  reader,  and  the 
dry  grammar  of  the  typical  school  ?  Of  course 
anyone  pleading  for  this  sort  of  study  in  the 
rural  schools  must  make  it  clear  that  the  ordi- 
nary accomplishments  of  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering  are  not  to  be  neglected.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  pupils  under  this  method  can  be  just  as 
well  trained  in  these  branches  as  under  the  old 
plan.  The  point  to  be  emphasized,  however, 
is  that  a  course  of  study  constructed  on  this 
theory  will  tend  to  bring  the  school  and  the 
community  closer  together,  will  make  the  school 
of  more  use  to  the  community,  will  give  the  com- 
munity more  interest^  in  the  school^  while  at  the 
same  time  it  will  better  prepare  pupils  to  do 
their  work  in  life. 

2.  A  second  way  of  making  the  rural  school 
a  social  center  is  through  the  social  activities  of 
the  pupils.  This  means  that  the  pupils  as  a 
body  can  co-operate  for  certain  purposes,  and 
that  this  co-operation  will  not  only  secure  some 
good  results  of  an  immediate  character,  results 
that  can  be  seen  and  appreciated  by  everyone, 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     127 

but  that  it  will  teach  the  spirit  of  co-operation — 
and  there  is  hardly  anything  more  needed  today 
in  rural  life  than  this  spirit  of  co-operation. 
The  schools  can  perform  no  better  service  than 
in  training  young  people  to  work  together  for 
common  ends.  In  this  work  such  things  as 
special  day  programmes,  as  for  Arbor  Day, 
Washington's  Birthday,  Pioneer  Day;  the  hold- 
ing of  various  school  exhibitions;  the  prepara- 
tion of  exhibits  for  county  fairs,  and  similar  en- 
deavors, are  useful  and  are  being  carried  out  in 
many  of  our  rural  schools.  But  the  best 
example  of  this  work  is  a  plan  that  is  being  used 
in  the  state  of  Maine,  and  is  performed  through 
the  agency  of  what  is  called  a  School  Improve- 
ment League.    T«he  purposes  of  the  league  are : 

(1)  to  improve  school  grounds  and  buildings; 

(2)  to  furnish  suitable  reading-matter  for  pupils 
and  people;  (3)  to  provide  works  of  art  for 
schoolrooms.  There  are  three  forms  of  the 
league,  the  local  leagues  organized  in  each 
school;  the  town  leagues,  whose  membership 
consists  of  the  officers  of  the  local  leagues;  and 
a  state  league,  whose  members  are  delegates 
from  the  town  leagues  and  members  of  the  local 
leagues  who  hold  school  diplomas.  Any  pupil, 
teacher,  school  officer,  or  any  other  citizen  may 


128  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

join  the  league  on  payment  of  the  dues.  The 
minimum  dues  are  one  cent  a  month  for  each 
pupil,  for  other  members  not  less  than  ten  cents 
a  term.  But  these  dues  may  be  made  larger  by 
vote  of  the  league.  Each  town  league  sends  a 
delegate  to  the  meeting  of  the  state  league. 
Each  league  has  the  usual  number  of  officers 
elected  for  one  term.  These  leagues  were  first 
organized  in  1898  and  they  have  already  accom- 
plished much.  They  have  induced  school  com- 
mittees to  name  various  rural  schools  for  distin- 
guished American  citizens,  as  Washington,  Lin- 
coln, and  so  forth.  They  give  exhibitions  and 
entertainments  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds. 
Sometimes  they  use  these  funds  to  buy  books  for 
the  schoolroom.  The  books  are  then  loaned  to 
the  members  of  the  league;  at  the  end  of  the 
term  this  set  of  books  is  exchanged  for  another 
set  of  books  from  another  school  in  the  same 
township.  In  this  way,  at  a  slight  expense, 
each  school  may  have  the  use  of  a  large  number 
of  books  every  year.  The  same  thing  is  done 
with  pictures  and  works  of  art,  these  being 
purchased  and  exchanged  in  the  same  way. 
Through  the  efforts  of  the  league  schoolhouses 
have  been  improved,  inside  and  out,  and  the 
school  grounds  improved.     It  is  not  so  much  the 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     129 

doing  of  new  things  that  has  been  attempted  by 
this  league.  The  important  item  is  that  the 
school  has  been  organized  for  these  definite  pur- 
poses, and  the  work  is  carried  on  systematically 
from  year  to  year.  It  needs  no  argument  to 
show  the  value  of  this  sort  of  co-operation  to  the 
pupil,  to  the  teacher,  to  the  school,  to  the  parents, 
and  ultimately  to  the  community  as  a  whole. 

3.  A  third  method  is  through  co-operation  be- 
tween the  home  and  the  school,  between  the 
teacher  and  pupils  on  one  side,  and  parents  and 
taxpayers  on  the  other  side.  Parents  sometimes 
complain  that  the  average  school  is  a  sort  of 
mill,  or  machine,  into  which  their  children  are 
placed  and  turned  out  just  so  fast,  and  in  just 
such  condition.  But  if  this  is  the  case,  it  is 
partly  the  fault  of  the  parents  who  do  not  keep 
in  close  enough  touch  with  the  work  of  the 
school.  It  is  not  that  parents  are  not  interested 
in  their  children,  but  it  is  rather  that  they  look 
at  the  school  as  something  separate  from  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  life.  Now,  nothing  can  be 
more  necessary  than  that  this  notion  should  be 
done  away  with.  There  must  be  the  closest  co- 
operation between  the  home  and  school.  How 
can  this  co-operation  be  brought  about  ?  Fre- 
quently parents  are  urged  to  visit  the  schools. 


130  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

This  is  all  right  and  proper,  but  it  is  not  enough. 
There  must  be  a  closer  relation  than  this.  The 
teacher  must  know  more  about  the  home  life  of 
her  pupils,  and  the  parents  must  know  far  more 
about  the  whole  purpose  and  spirit,  as  well  as 
the  method,  of  the  school.  A  great  deal  of  good 
has  been  done  by  the  joint  meeting  of  teachers 
and  school  officers.  It  is  a  very  wise  device, 
and  should  be  kept  up.  But  altogether  the 
most  promising  development  along  this  line  is 
the  so-called  "Hesperia  movement,"  described 
in  another  chapter.  These  meetings  of  school 
patrons  and  teachers  take  up  the  work  of  the 
school  in  a  way  that  will  interest  both  teachers 
and  farmers.  They  bring  the  teachers  and 
farmers  into  closer  touch  socially  and  intellectu- 
ally. They  disperse  fogs  of  misunderstanding. 
They  inspire  to  closer  co-operation.  They 
create  mutual  sympathy.  They  are  sure  to  re- 
sult in  bringing  the  teacher  into  closer  touch 
wite  community  life  and  with  the  social  prob- 
lems of  the  farm.  And  they  are  almost  equally 
sure  to  arouse  the  interest  of  the  entire  commu- 
nity, not  only  in  the  school  as  an  institution  and 
in  the  possibilities  of  the  work  it  may  do,  but 
also  in  the  work  of  that  teacher  who  is  for  the 
time  being  serving  a  particular  rural  school. 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     131 

4.  A  fourth  method  is  by  making  the  school- 
house  a  meeting-place  for  the  community,  more 
especially  for  the  intellectual  and  aesthetic  activ- 
ities of  the  community.  A  good  example  of  this 
kind  of  work  is  the  John  Spry  School  of  Chicago. 
In  connection  with  this  school  there  is  a  lecture 
course  each  winter;  there  is  a  musical  society 
that  meets  every  Tuesday  evening;  there  is  a 
men's  club  that  meets  every  two  weeks  to  dis- 
cuss municipal  problems  and  the  improvement 
of  home  conditions;  there  is  a  woman's  club  to 
study  for  general  improvement  and  social  ser- 
vice; there  is  a  mothers'  council  meeting  every 
two  weeks;  there  is  a  literary  and  dramatic  so- 
ciety, meeting  every  week,  composed  of  mem- 
bers of  high-school  age,  and  studying  Shake- 
speare particularly ;  there  is  a  dressmaking  and 
aid  society  meeting  two  evenings  a  week,  to 
study  the  cutting  of  patterns,  garment-making, 
etc. ;  a  food-study  and  cooking  club,  also  meet- 
ing two  evenings  a  week;  an  inventive  and  me- 
chanical club,  meeting  two  evenings  a  week,  and 
tending  to  develop  the  inventive  and  mechanical 
genius  of  a  group  of  young  men ;  an  art  club ;  and 
a  boy's  club,  with  music,  games,  reading-lessons, 
reading  of  books  and  magazines,  intended  for 
boys  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  of  age.    These 


132  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

things  are  all  under  the  direction  of  the  school, 
they  are  free,  they  are  designed  to  educate.  It 
will  not  be  feasible  for  the  rural  school  to  carry 
out  such  a  programme  as  this,  but  do  we  realize 
how  large  are  the  possibilities  of  this  idea  of 
making  the  rural  school  a  community  center? 
No  doubt  one  of  the  advantages  of  the  central- 
ized rural  school  will  be  to  give  a  central  meet- 
ing-place for  the  township,  and  to  encourage 
work  of  the  character  that  has  been  described. 
Of  course,  the  Grange  and  farmers'  clubs  are 
doing  much  along  these  lines,  but  is  it  not  pos- 
sible for  the  district  school  also  to  do  some 
useful  work  of  this  character  ?  Singing-schools 
and  debating  clubs  were  quite  a  common  thing 
in  the  rural  schools  forty  years  ago,  and  there 
are  many  rural  schools  today  that  .are  doing 
work  of  this  very  kind.  Is  there  any  reason, 
for  example,  why  the  country  schoolhouse 
should  not  offer  an  evening  school  during  a 
portion  of  the  winter,  where  the  older  pupils  who 
have  left  the  regular  work  of  the  school  can 
carry  on  studies,  especially  in  agriculture  and 
domestic  science?  There  is  need  for  this  sort 
of  thing,  and  if  our  agricultural  colleges,  and 
the  departments  of  public  instruction,  and 
the  local  school  supervisors,  and  the  country 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     133 

teachers,  and  the  farmers  themselves,  could 
come  a  little  closer  together  on  these  questions 
the  thing  could  be  done ! 

5.  Fifth  and  last,  as  a  method  for  making  the 
school  a  social  center,  is  the  suggestion  that  the 
teacher  herself  shall  become  something  of  a 
leader  in  the  farm  community.  The  teacher 
ought  to  be  not  only  a  teacher  of  the  pupils,  but 
in  some  sense  a  teacher  of  the  community.  Is 
there  not  need  that  someone  should  take  the 
lead  in  inspiring  everyone  in  the  community  to 
read  better  books,  to  buy  better  pictures,  to 
take  more  interest  in  the  things  that  make  for 
culture  and  progress?  There  are  special  diffi- 
culties in  a  country  community.  The  rural 
teacher  is  usually  a  transient ;  she  secures  a  city 
school  as  soon  as  she  can;  she  is  often  poorly 
paid;  she  is  sometimes  inexperienced;  fre- 
quently the  labor  of  the  school  absorbs  all  her 
time  and  energy.  Unfortunately  these  things 
are  so,  but  they  ought  not  to  be  so.  And  we 
shall  never  have  the  ideal  rural  school  until  we 
have  conditions  favorable  to  the  kind  of  work 
just  described.  The  country  teacher  ought  to 
understand  the  country  community,  ought  to 
have  some  knowledge  of  the  problems  that  the 
farmers  have  to  face,  ought  to  have  some  appre- 


134  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

ciation  of  the  peculiar  conditions  of  farm  life. 
Every  teacher  should  have  some  knowledge  of 
rural  sociology.  The  normal  schools  should 
make  this  subject  a  required  subject  in  the 
course,  especially  for  country  teachers.  Teach- 
ers' institutes  and  reading-circles  should  in 
some  way  provide  this  sort  of  thing.  This  is 
one  of  the  most  important  means  of  bringing 
the  rural  school  into  closer  touch  with  the  farm 
community.  Ten  years  ago  Henry  Sabin,  of 
Iowa,  one  of  the  keenest  students  of  the  rural- 
school  problem,  in  speaking  of  the  supervision 
of  country  schools,  said : 

The  supervisor  of  rural  schools  should  be  acquainted 
with  the  material  resources  of  his  district.  He  should 
know  not  only  what  constitutes  good  farming,  but  the 
prevailing  industry  of  the  region  should  be  so  familiar 
to  him  that  he  can  converse  intelligently  with  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  convince  them  that  he  knows  something  besides 
books.  The  object  is  not  alone  to  gain  influence  over 
them,  but  to  bring  the  school  into  touch  with  the  home 
life  of  the  community  about.  It  is  not  to  invite  the 
farmer  to  the  school,  but  to  take  the  school  to  the  farm, 
and  to  show  the  pupils  that  here  before  their  eyes  are 
the  foundations  upon  which  have  been  built  the  great 
natural  sciences. 

The  programme  needed  to  unite  rural  school 
and  farm  community  is  then,  first,  to  enrich  the 


RURAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  COMMUNITY     135 

course  of  study  by  adding  nature-study  and  agri- 
culture, and  about  these  co-ordinating  the  con- 
ventional school  subjects;  second,  to  encourage 
the  co-operation  of  the  pupils,  especially  for  the 
improvement  of  the  school  and  its  surround- 
ings ;  third,  to  bring  together  for  discussion  and 
acquaintance  the  teachers  and  the  patrons  of 
the  school;  fourth,  so  far  as  possible  to  make 
the  schoolhouse  a  meeting-place  for  the  com- 
munity, for  young  people  as  well  as  for  older 
people,  where  music,  art,  social  culture,  litera- 
ture, study  of  farming,  and  in  fact,  anything 
that  has  to  do  with  rural  education,  may  be 
fostered ;  and  fifth,  to  expect  the  teacher  to  have 
a  knowledge  of  the  industrial  and  general  social 
conditions  of  agriculture,  especially  those  of  the 
community  in  which  her  lot  is  cast. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  GRANGE 

The  difficulty  of  uniting  the  farmers  of  Amer- 
ica for  any  form  of  co-operative  endeavor  long 
ago  became  proverbial.  The  business  of  farm- 
ing encouraged  individualism ;  comparative  iso- 
lation bred  independence ;  and  restricted  means 
of  communication  made  union  physically  diffi- 
cult, even  among  those  who  might  be  disposed 
to  unite.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the 
agricultural  masses  developed  a  state  of  mind 
unfavorable  for  organization — that  they  became 
suspicious  of  one  another,  jealous  of  leadership, 
unwilling  to  keep  the  pledges  of  union,  and 
unable  to  sink  personal  views  and  prejudices. 

It  must  not  be  supposed,  however,  that  the 
farmers  themselves  have  failed  to  realize  the  situ- 
ation, or  that  no  genuinely  progressive  steps 
have  been  taken  to  remedy  it.  During  the  last 
four  decades  at  least,  the  strongest  men  that  the 
rural  classes  have  produced  have  labored  with 
their  fellows,  both  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
for  union  of  effort;  and  their  efforts  have  been 
by  no  means  in  vain.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the 
136 


THE  GRANGE  137 

attempts  at  co-operation  have  been  ill-judged, 
even  fantastic.  It  is  true  that  much  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  organization  failed  to  work  and  can 
be  found  on  the  social  junk-pile,  in  company 
with  other  discarded  implements  not  wholly 
rural  in  origin.  But  it  is  also  true  that  great 
progress  has  been  made;  that  the  spirit  of  co- 
operation is  rapidly  emerging  as  a  factor  in 
rural  social  life;  and  that  the  weapons  of  rural 
organization  have  a  temper  all  the  better,  per- 
haps, because  they  were  fashioned  on  the  anvil 
of  defeat. 

Among  all  these  efforts  to  unite  the  farming 
classes,  by  far  the  most  characteristic  and  the 
most  successful  is  the  Grange.  The  truth  of 
this  statement  will  immediately  be  questioned 
by  those  whose  memory  recalls  the  early  rush 
to  the  Grange,  "Granger  legislation,"  and 
similar  phenomena,  as  well  as  by  those  whose 
impressions  have  been  gleaned  from  reading  the 
periodicals  of  the  late  seventies,  when  the  Grange 
tide  had  begun  to  ebb.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  be 
the  popular  impression  that  the  Grange  is  not 
at  present  a  force  of  consequence,  that  long  ago 
it  became  a  cripple,  if  not  a  corpse,  Only  a 
few  years  ago,  an  intelligent  magazine  writer,  in 
discussing  the  subject  of  farmers'  organizations, 


138  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

made  the  statement,  "The  Grange  is  dead." 
But  the  assertion  was  not  true.  The  popular 
impression  must  be  revised.  The  Grange  has 
accomplished  more  for  agriculture  than  has  any 
other  farm  organization.  Not  only  is  it  at  the 
present  time  active,  but  it  has  more  real-influence 
than  it  has  ever  had  before;  and  it  is  more 
nearly  a  national  farmers'  organization  than 
any  other  in  existence  today. 

The  Grange  is  also  the  oldest  of  the  general 
organizations  for  farmers.  Though  the  notion 
of  organizing  the  farmers  was  undoubtedly 
broached  early  in  the  history  of  the  country,  the 
germ  idea  that  actually  grew  into  the  Grange  is 
about  forty  years  old,  and  should  be  credited 
to  Mr.  O.  H.  Kelley,  a  Boston  young  man 
who  settled  on  a  Minnesota  farm  in  1849. 
He  wrote  considerably  for  the  agricultural  press ; 
and  this  experience  helped  to  bring  him  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  great  need  of  agriculture 
was  the  education  of  the  agriculturist.  He  soon 
came  to  feel  that  existing  agencies  for  this  pur- 
pose— farm  papers  and  fairs — were  insufficient. 
In  1866,  as  agent  for  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, Mr.  Kelley  made  a  tour  of  the  South, 
with  the  view  of  gaining  a  knowledge  of  the 
agricultural  and  mineral  resources  of  that  sec- 


THE  GRANGE  139 

tion.  On  this  tour  he  became  impressed  with 
the  fact  that  politicians  would  never  restore 
peace  to  the  country;  that  if  it  came  at  all,  it 
would  have  to  come  through  fraternity.  As  his 
thought  ripened  he  broached  to  friends  the  idea  of 
a  "secret  society  of  agriculturists,  as  an  element 
to  restore  kindly  feelings  among  the  people." 

Thus  the  Grange  was  born  of  two  needs,  one 
fundamental  and  the  other  immediate.  The 
fundamental  need  of  agriculture  was  that 
farmers  should  be  better  educated  for  their  busi- 
ness; and  the  immediate  need  was  that  of  cul- 
tivating the  spirit  of  brotherhood  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  The  latter  need  no 
longer  exists;  but  the  fundamental  need  still 
remains  and  is  sufficient  excuse  for  the  Grange's 
existence  today.  Mr.  Kelley  interested  six  other 
men  in  the  new  idea;  and  in  December,  1867, 
these  "seven  founders  of  the  order"  organized 
the  National  Grange  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry. 
Mr.  Kelley  is  the  only  one  of  these  seven  men 
now  living. 

Thus  was  begun  a  movement  for  organization 
that  had  resulted  by  1873  in  the  formation  of 
over  20,000  Granges  in  28  states,  comprising 
not  less  than  750,000  members;  and  in  that  year 
the  National  Grange,  as  a  representative  body, 


140 


CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 


was  officially  organized.  For  four  or  five  years 
this  unexampled  prosperity  continued ;  then  the 
reports  show  a  feeling  of  weakness  creeping  in. 
In  fact,  the  order  as  a  whole  steadily  declined  in 
numbers  and  prestige  during  the  whole  of  the 
decade  following  1880.  The  losses  were  most 
serious,  however,  in  the  South  and  West;  for  in 
New  England  and  the  Middle  States  it  retained 
its  vitality,  and,  indeed,  grew  steadily. 

During  the  last  fifteen  years  there  has  been  a 
widespread  revival  of  interest  in  the  organization 
and  the  outlook  is  exceedingly  promising. 
During  the  decade  following  1890  the  member- 
ship increased  not  less  than  75  per  cent.  Dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  the  rate  of  gain  has  been 
even  greater.  The  following  table  gives  the 
official  records  in  the  five  leading  Grange  states : 


New  York 

Maine 

Michigan 

Pennsylvania. . . 
New  Hampshire 


Granges      Members 


55° 
275 
420 
526 
260 


43,000 
29,000 
25,000 
20,000 
24,000 


1905 


Granges     Members 


582 
387 
731 
560 
263 


66,500 
49,000 
45,000 
34,000 
28,000 


These  states  lead,  but  the  order  is  also  active 
and   strong   in   Vermont,    Connecticut,    Ohio, 


THE  GRANGE  141 

Massachusetts.  Thirty  states  pay  dues  to  the 
National  Grange  treasury,  and  twenty-six  were 
represented  by  delegates  at  the  last  National 
Grange.  Since  1905  there  has  been  substantial 
growth  in  most  of  these  twenty-six  states,  both 
in  numbers  of  Granges  and  in  membership. 

The  official  title  of  the  Grange  is  "Patrons  of 
Husbandry,"  of  the  members,  "Patrons,"  and 
of  the  various  divisions,  "  Granges. "  The  "  sub- 
ordinate Grange,"  or  local  lodge,  is  the  Grange 
unit.  Its  area  of  jurisdiction  has,  nominally,  a 
diameter  of  about  five  miles;  more  roughly,  "a 
Grange  to  a  township"  is  the  working  ideal 
among  the  organizers.  The  membership  con- 
sists of  men  and  women,  and  of  young  people 
over  fourteen  years  of  age,  who  may  apply  and 
by  vote  be  accepted.  Constitutionally,  those 
whose  interests  are  not  immediately  with  agri- 
culture are  ineligible  to  membership;  and  care 
is  also  exercised  that  only  those  who  are  of  good 
repute  shall  be  recommended.  The  presiding 
officer  of  each  Grange  is  the  "master;"  while 
among  the  twelve  other  officers  the  "lecturer" 
is  the  most  important,  and  virtually  acts  as 
programme  committee,  with  charge  of  the  educa- 
tional work  of  the  body.  Meetings  are  held 
weekly  or  fortnightly.     Each  regular  meeting 


142  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

has  first  its  business  session,  and  then  its  "lec- 
turer's hour,"  or  literary  session,  usually  with  an 
intervening  recess  for  social  greetings,  etc.  The 
programmes  are  prepared  by  the  lecturer,  and 
consist  of  general  discussions,  essays,  talks, 
debates,  readings,  recitations,  and  music;  an 
attempt  being  made  to  suit  the  tastes  and  talents 
of  all  members,  young  and  old.  Many  Granges 
have  built  and  own  their  halls,  which  are  usually 
equipped  with  kitchen  and  dining-room,  in 
addition  to  audience  rooms;  for  periodical 
"feasts"  are  as  regular  a  feature  of  the  associa- 
tion as  are  the  initiations  of  new  members. 

The  Granges  of  a  county  or  other  given  dis- 
trict often  organize  themselves  into  a  "  Pomona 
Grange."  The  "State  Grange"  is  a  delegate 
body,  meeting  annually;  delegates  being  chosen 
by  the  subordinate  and  Pomona  Granges.  The 
"National  Grange"  is  composed  of  the  masters 
of  State  Granges  and  their  wives,  and  is  also 
an  annual  gathering.  The  National  Grange  is 
the  legislative  body  of  the  order,  and  has  full 
authority  in  all  matters  of  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice. But  to  State  Granges  is  left  the  deter- 
mination of  policy  and  administration  for  the 
states.  The  State  Granges,  in  turn,  legislate  for 
the  subordinate    Granges,  while  also  passing 


THE  GRANGE  143 

down  to  them  ample  local  powers.  The  ma- 
chinery is  thus  strongly  centralized,  and  subor- 
dinate Granges  are  absolutely  dependent  units 
of  a  great  whole.  Yet  the  principle  of  home  rule 
pervades  the  organization;  and  local  associa- 
tions are  responsible  for  their  own  methods 
and  the  results  of  their  work,  though  their  offi- 
cers usually  work  in  harmony  with  the  State 
and  National  Granges. 

Perhaps  the  clearest  conception  of  what  the 
order  originally  meant  to  do  can  be  gained  from 
a  few  quotations  from  the  Declaration  of  Pur- 
poses of  the  National  Grange,  which  was  pro- 
mulgated over  thirty  years  ago,  and  is  still  in 
force : 

We  shall  endeavor  to  advance  our  cause  by  laboring 
to  accomplish  the  following  objects: 

To  develop  a  better  and  higher  manhood  and  woman- 
hood among  ourselves.  To  enhance  the  comfort  and 
attractions  of  our  homes  and  to  strengthen  our  attach- 
ments to  our  pursuits.  To  foster  mutual  understanding 
and  co-operation.  To  maintain  inviolate  our  laws, 
and  to  emulate  each  other  in  labor,  to  hasten  the  good 
time  coming.  To  reduce  our  expenses,  both  individual 
and  corporate.  To  buy  less  and  produce  more,  in  order 
to  make  our  farms  self-sustaining.  To  diversify  our 
crops  and  crop  no  more  than  we  can  cultivate.  To  con- 
dense the  weight  of  our  exports,  selling  less  in  the  bushel 


144  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

and  more  on  hoof  and  in  fleece;  less  in  lint  and  more  in 
warp  and  woof.  To  systematize  our  work,  and  calculate 
intelligently  on  probabilities.  To  discountenance  the 
credit  system,  the  mortgage  system,  the  fashion  system, 
and  every  other  system  tending  to  prodigality  and  bank- 
ruptcy. 

We  propose  meeting  together,  talking  together,  work- 
ing together,  buying  together,  selling  together,  and,  in 
general,  acting  together  for  our  mutual  protection  and 
advancement,  as  occasion  may  require.  We  shall  avoid 
litigation,  as  much  as  possible,  by  arbitration  in  the 
Grange.  We  shall  constantly  strive  to  secure  entire 
harmony,  good  will,  vital  brotherhood,  among  ourselves, 
and  to  make  our  order  perpetual.  We  shall  earnestly 
endeavor  to  suppress  personal,  local,  sectional,  and 
national  prejudices,  all  unhealthy  rivalry,  all  selfish 
ambition.  Faithful  adherence  to  these  principles  will 
insure  our  mental,  moral,  social,  and  material  advance- 
ment. 

For  our  business  interests  we  desire  to  bring  producers 
and  consumers,  farmers  and  manufacturers,  into  the 
most  direct  and  friendly  relations  possible.  Hence  we 
must  dispense  with  a  surplus  of  middle-men,  not  that 
we  are  unfriendly  to  them,  but  we  do  not  need  them. 
Their  surplus  and  their  exactions  diminish  our  profits. 

We  wage  no  aggressive  warfare  against  any  other 
interests  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  all  our  acts  and 
all  our  efforts,  so  far  as  business  is  concerned,  are  not 
only  for  the  benefit  of  the  producer  and  consumer,  but 
also  for  all  other  interests  that  tend  to  bring  these  two 
parties  into  speedy  and  economical  contact.  Hence  we 
hold  that  transportation  companies  of  everv  kind  are 


THE  GRANGE  145 

necessary  to  our  success,  that  their  interests  are  intimately 
connected  with  our  interests. 

We  are  opposed  to  such  spirit  and  management  oi 
any  corporation  or  enterprise  as  tends  to  oppress  the 
people,  and  rob  them  of  their  just  profits.  We  are  not 
enemies  to  capital,  but  we  oppose  the  tyranny  of  monopo- 
lies. We  long  to  see  the  antagonism  between  capital 
and  labor  removed  by  common  consent,  and  by  an  en- 
lightened statesmanship  worthy  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
We  are  opposed  to  excessive  salaries,  high  rates  of  interest, 
and  exorbitant  per-cent.  profits  in  trade. 

We  shall  advance  the  cause  of  education  among  our- 
selves and  for  our  children,  by  all  just  means  within  our 
power.  We  especially  advocate  for  our  agricultural 
and  industrial  colleges  that  practical  agriculture,  do- 
mestic science,  and  all  the  arts  which  adorn  the  home 
be  taught  in  their  courses  of  study. 

We  emphatically  and  sincerely  assert  the  oft-repeated 
truth  taught  in  our  organic  law,  that  the  Grange — na- 
tional, state,  or  subordinate — is  not  a  political  or  party 
organization.  No  Grange,  if  true  to  its  obligations,  can 
discuss  political  or  religious  questions,  or  call  political 
conventions,  or  nominate  candidates,  or  even  discuss 
their  merits  at  its  meetings. 

We  always  bear  in  mind  that  no  one,  by  becoming  a 
Patron  of  Husbandry,  gives  up  that  inalienable  right  and 
duty  which  belongs  to  every  American  citizen,  to  take 
a  proper  interest  in  the  politics  of  his  country.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  his  duty  to  do  all  he  can  in  his  own  party  to 
put  down  bribery,  corruption,  and  trickery;  to  see  that 
none  but  competent,  faithful,  and  honest  men,  who  will 
unflinchingly  stand  by  our  industrial  interests,  are  nomi- 


146        chapters  in  rural  progress 

nated  for  all  positions  of  trust;  and  to  have  carried  out  the 
principle  which  should  characterize  every  Patron,  that 
the  office  should  seek  the  man,  and  not  the  man  the  office. 

To  enumerate  the  achievements  of  the  Grange 
would  be  to  recall  the  progress  of  agriculture 
during  the  past  third  of  a  century.  It  has  been 
a  motor  force  in  many  helpful  movements,  and 
in  many  ways  has  organized  and  incorporated 
the  best  thought  of  the  most  intelligent  farmers, 
about  means  for  rural  advancement.  It  has 
been  an  integral  part  of,  and  a  most  potent  factor 
in,  the  expansion  of  American  farm  life. 

The  greatest  achievement  of  the  order  is  that 
it  has  taught  the  farmers  of  America  the  value 
of  co-operation  and  the  power  of  organized  effort. 
The  lesson  has  not  been  fully  learned,  it  is  true ; 
but  the  success  of  the  institution  testifies  that  it 
is  possible  for  farmers  to  work  in  harmony.  It 
is  worth  observing  that  this  result  has  been 
achieved  on  conservative  lines.  It  is  compara- 
tively easy  to  organize  on  radical  lines;  easy  to 
generate  enthusiasm  by  promising  some  great 
reform;  easy  to  inflame  self-interest  by  picturing 
millennial  conditions,  especially  when  the  pocket 
is  touched.  But  quite  different  is  it  to  arouse 
and  sustain  interest  in  a  large  popular  organiza- 
tion whose  object  is  education,  whose  watchword 


THE  GRANGE  147 

is  self-culture.  Of  course,  it  would  be  but  a 
half-truth  to  assert  that  the  order  places  all  its 
emphasis  on  the  sober  problems  of  education. 
Agitation  has  had  its  place;  the  hope  of  better 
things  for  the  farmer,  to  be  achieved  through 
legislation  and  business  co-operation,  has  been 
an  inspiration  to  activity;  but  the  noteworthy 
fact  remains  that  it  has  secured  a  fair  degree  of 
organization  and  co-operation  among  farmers 
chiefly  by  appeals  to  their  larger  and  nobler  in- 
terests. 

That  the  association  has  vastly  improved  the 
social  opportunities  of  farmers  is  a  trite  saying 
among  old  observers  of  its  work.  It  forces  iso- 
lation out  of  the  saddle.  The  regular  meetings 
of  the  local  bodies  rapidly  and  surely  develop 
the  social  instinct  among  the  members.  Pomo- 
na Granges  bring  together  members  from  all 
parts  of  the  county  and  make  them  acquainted 
with  one  another.  The  State  Grange  draws  its 
membership  from  every  corner  of  the  state;  and 
as  its  personnel  changes  each  year,  thousands 
are  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  given  the  wider 
outlook,  the  more  extended  acquaintance,  and 
the  broader  view  that  participation  in  such  a 
gathering  affords.  Special  social  features  add 
their  influence. 


148  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

As  an  educator  on  public  questions  the  Grange 
has  done  a  noble  work.  At  nearly  every  meeting 
in  this  country,  some  topic  of  public  concern  is 
brought  up  by  essay,  talk,  general  discussion,  or 
formal  debate.  The  views  of  the  "village 
Hampdens"  may  not  always  be  economically 
scientific  or  scholarly.  But  it  might  surprise 
many  people  to  see  how  well  read  the  members 
are  and  how  clearly  they  can  express  their  ideas. 
Their  discussions  are  not  seldom  informative, 
and  that  they  make  public  opinion  in  rural  com- 
munities is  beyond  cavil.  The  persistent  advo- 
cacy of  specific  reforms  has  directed  the  thought 
of  the  members  toward  the  larger  issues  that  so 
often  rise  above  the  haze  of  partisan  politics. 

The  order  has  prepared  the  soil  for  adequate 
agricultural  education.  While  the  agricultural 
colleges  formerly  had  many  enemies  among  the 
farmers,  and  received  scornful  opprobrium  from 
those  whom  they  were  endeavoring  to  help,  al- 
most without  exception  the  Granges  have  praised 
the  colleges,  welcomed  their  work,  and  urged 
farmers  to  educate  their  sons  at  these  institutions. 
Farmers'  institutes,  the  agricultural  experiment 
stations,  and  the  federal  Department  of  Agri- 
culture have  been  equally  welcomed  by  the 
Grange  sentiment.    The   Grange  has  always 


THE  GRANGE  149 

taught  the  need  of  better  rural  education.  It  has 
also  tended  to  develop  its  members,  so  that  they 
may  not  only  appreciate  education,  but  that  they 
may  be  themselves  living  examples  of  the  value 
of  such  education.  Farmers'  institute  lecturers 
frequently  say,  "You  can  always  tell  when  you 
reach  a  community  where  a  Grange  exists."  In 
that  meeting  will  be  found  men  who  have  read 
and  thought  on  farm  and  public  themes,  men 
who  are  not  only  ready  in  discussion,  apt  in 
statement,  and  eager  to  question,  but  men  ac- 
quainted with  parliamentary  law,  who  know  how 
such  assemblages  should  be  conducted,  and  who 
can  preside  with  dignity  and  grace. 

The  order  has  undoubtedly  aided  materially 
in  obliterating  sectionalism.  That  achievement 
was  one  of  its  avowed  objects.  There  is  no 
question  but  it  assisted  in  cementing  North  and 
South;  and  that  it  has  brought  East  and  West 
into  closer  sympathy  is  equally  true.  Other 
farm  organizations  have  found  their  incentive  in 
the  order.7  These  it  has  never  frowned  on, 
though  believing  and  always  hoping  that  it  might 
attract  the  majority  of  farmers  to  its  own  ranks, 
and  by  this  unity  become  a  more  powerful  factor 
in  securing  the  rights  and  developing  the  oppor- 
tunities of  the  rural  classes  of  America.    It  has 


150  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

always  discountenanced  the  credit  system;  and 
that  cash  payments  by  farmers  to  merchants  are 
far  more  common  than  a  quarter-century  ago 
may  be  fairly  credited,  in  part  at  least,  to  its 
influence. 

To  describe  the  many  specific  legislative 
achievements  which  the  Granges  of  the  nation 
and  of  the  several  states  have  accomplished 
would  be  tedious.  Merely  to  enumerate  a  few 
of  them  must  suffice  here.  A  convenient  sum- 
mary is  made  from  an  official  circular  recently 
issued  by  the  National  Grange.  The  order  has 
had  a  large  influence  in  securing  the  following: 
The  separation  of  certain  agricultural  colleges 
from  universities  which  were  receiving  the  land- 
grant  funds,  but  were  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
farmers,  duly  contributing  to  agricultural  edu- 
cation ;  the  confining  of  the  appropriations  under 
the  second  Morrill  act  of  1890  strictly  to  instruc- 
tion in  agriculture  and  mechanical  arts;  the 
Hatch  Act  of  1887,  establishing  an  experiment 
station  in  each  state  and  territory;  making  the 
head  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  a  cabinet 
official;  the  agitation  resulting  in  the  famous 
Iowa  court  decision,  that  railroad  franchises  are 
subject  to  the  power  that  created  them;  the 
establishment  of  the  Inter-State  Commerce  Com- 


THE  GRANGE  151 

mission;  tax  reform  in  many  states;  laws  favor- 
ing pure  food  and  dairy  products;  preventing 
extension  of  patents  on  sewing  machines;  the 
establishment  of  rural  free  mail  delivery. 

The  methods  of  work  are  many  and  varied. 
In  addition  to  the  regular  literary  and  social 
programmes  previously  mentioned,  socials  are 
held  at  the  homes  of  members,  entertainments 
of  various  kinds  occur  at  the  Grange  hall,  and  in 
many  ways  the  association  becomes  the  center  of 
the  social  and  intellectual  interest  of  the  com- 
munity. It  is  debating  society,  club,  lecture 
course,  parliamentary  society,  theater,  and  circu- 
lating library.  In  fact,  it  lends  itself  to  almost 
any  function  that  will  instruct,  entertain,  benefit, 
or  assist  its  members  financially,  morally,  intel- 
lectually, or  socially.  Of  course,  not  every 
Grange  is  awake  to  its  opportunities;  but  as  a 
rule,  where  a  live  one  exists  it  is  the  acknowl- 
edged leader  in  social  movements. 

It  is  not  uncommon  for  Granges  to  hold  fairs 
for  the  exhibition  of  agricultural  and  domestic 
products.  The  State  Fair  of  New  Hampshire 
has  been  largely  managed  by  the  Grange.  In 
many  cases  Granges  as  organizations  will  exhibit 
at  the  ordinary  county  or  district  fair.  Picnics 
and  field  meetings  are  coming  to  be  very  popular 


152  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

in  some  states.  They  are  held  during  the 
summer  season,  at  a  time  when  work  is  least 
pressing,  and  are  usually  attended  by  speakers 
of  prominence  in  the  order.  Many  subordinate 
Granges  give  public  lecture  courses  during  the 
winter,  securing  speakers  on  general  themes. 
They  also  arrange  for  entertainments  of  a  pop- 
ular character. 

The  order  also  participates  in  activities  that 
are  not  strictly  Grange  work.  For  instance,  in 
Michigan,  the  State  Grange  for  several  years 
carried  on  a  "Fresh- Air  Work,"  by  which  over 
1,000  working-girls,  children,  and  hard-working 
mothers  with  babies,  from  the  larger  cities,  were 
given  a  two-weeks'  vacation  in  country  homes. 
The  philanthropic  agencies  of  the  cities  arranged 
for  transportation  and  secured  the  beneficiaries, 
while  the  Grange  obtained  the  places  for  them. 
Granges  are  always  active  in  the  organization  of 
farmers'  institutes,  agricultural  fairs,  etc.  In 
Michigan  they  have  assisted  in  the  organization 
of  associations  which  are  designed  to  bring  to- 
gether both  teachers  and  parents  for  discussion  of 
rural -school  problems. 

On  two  important  matters  the  Grange  has 
been  misunderstood,  not  only  by  the  public,  but 
more    unfortunately,    sometimes    by    its    own 


THE  GRANGE  i$3 

members.  In  his  Division  and  Reunion,  Presi- 
dent Woodrow  Wilson  speaks  of  it  under  the 
sub-title  of  "New  Parties."  Professor  Alex- 
ander Johnston,  in  his  American  Politics  was 
more  discriminating,  for  he  said  of  it:  "In  its 
nature  it  is  not  political."  But  he  also  said: 
"Its  object  is  co-operation  among  farmers,  in 
purchasing  and  in  other  business  interests." 
The  first  conception  of  the  character  of  the  order 
is  wholly  misleading;  the  second  is  inadequate. 
The  Grange  is  not  a  party.  It  never  was  a 
party.  During  the  "Granger  legislation"  pe- 
riod, many  members  doubtless  misconceived 
the  true  function  of  the  Grange,  and  abused  the 
power  organization  gave  them,  while  the  popular 
mind  credited  the  association  with  many  notions 
for  which  it  was  not  responsible.  It  has  never 
organized  itself  as  a  farmers'  party.  The  Na- 
tional Grange  has  endeavored  to  keep  strictly 
aloof  from  partisan  politics.  It  is  possible  that 
in  some  states  the  influence  of  the  organization 
was,  in  the  early  days,  used  for  partisan  pur- 
poses; but  the  penalty  was  fully  paid  in  the 
disruption  of  the  order  in  those  states.  The 
Grange  today  regards  partisanship  as  poison- 
ous to  its  life,  and  does  not  allow  it  on  its 
shelves. 


154  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

This  is  not  to  say  that  the  Grange  makes  no 
appeal  to  legislation.  It  is  possible  that  in  some 
cases  it  places  too  much  faith  in  law  as  a  means 
of  emancipation  from  economic  bondage;  but, 
in  the  main,  its  legislative  point  of  view  is  sane 
and  conservative.  It  believes  that  such  ills  as 
are  due  to  bad  or  imperfect  legislation  can  be, 
at  least  partly,  relieved  by  good  or  more  perfect 
legislation.  Nor  does  it  limit  its  interest  to 
measures  that  concern  the  farmer  alone.  It  is 
unalterably  opposed  to  class  legislation,  and 
aims  to  keep  its  own  skirts  clear — to  avoid  even 
the  suspicion  of  offence  in  this  particular. 

It  may  be  asked,  How  does  the  order  manage 
to  advocate  public  measures  without  becoming 
involved  in  partisan  squabbles?  Simply  by 
ceasing  to  discuss  a  question  the  moment  it 
becomes  a  party  football.  For  instance:  the 
monetary  policy  of  the  government  was  warmly 
discussed  until  the  conventions  of  1896  made  it 
clear  that  it  was  to  be  a  party  issue.  Again: 
the  Grange  has  consistently  urged  the  construc- 
tion and  ownership  of  the  Interoceanic  Canal 
by  the  United  States  government;  but  it  was 
silent  on  the  larger  question  of  "imperialism," 
not  because  the  question  was  not  of  importance, 
but  because  it  became  a  subject  of  party  con- 


THE  GRANGE  155 

troversy.  This  neutral  policy  as  to  party 
questions  imposes  certain  limitations  on  the 
influence  of  the  organization;  but  experience 
has  demonstrated  that  this,  more  than  any  other 
thing,  is  responsible  for  the  fact  that  the  Grange 
still  lives  and  thrives. 

The  other  misconception  lies  in  the  sentence 
quoted  from  Professor  Johnston,  that  the  Grange 
has  for  its  object  "co-operation  among  farmers 
in  purchasing  and  in  other  business  interests;" 
the  implication  being  that  business  was  the 
chief  function.  It  is  generally  admitted  that 
in  the  early  days  thousands  joined  the  ordei 
"for  what  there  was  in  it;"  believing  that  the 
organization  furnished  a  means  for  abolishing 
the  middlemen,  and  putting  ready  money  into 
the  pockets  of  the  farmers.  When  these  sordid 
souls  were  disillusioned,  their  enthusiasm  went 
down  to  the  zero  of  activity.  They  misunder- 
stood, or  interpreted  too  radically,  a  well- 
defined,  conservative,  legitimate  purpose  of  the 
Grange  to  co-operate  on  business  lines.  The 
order  did  believe  that  farmers  could  do  without 
the  surplus  of  middlemen;  it  did  purpose  to  aid 
the  farmer  financially,  though  this  purpose  was 
not  its  main  function.  In  the  earlier  period 
Grange  stores  were  organized.    A  few  of  these 


I  $6  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

are  in  successful  operation  to-day,  but  the  policy 
as  a  whole  has  been  abandoned. 

Another  plan,  discussed  over  thirty  years  ago, 
has  during  the  past  decade  come  to  assume 
practical  importance  as  a  method  of  co-operation 
on  business  lines.  The  plan,  in  brief,  is  that 
various  State  Granges  contract  with  manu- 
facturing and  jobbing  houses  to  furnish  members 
of  the  order  with  goods  at  practically  wholesale 
rates.  Goods  are  ordered  by  the  subordinate 
Granges,  under  seal  of  the  order;  are  purchased 
on  a  cash  basis;  and  are  shipped  to  the  purchas- 
ing agent  of  the  Grange,  and  by  him  distributed 
to  the  individual  buyers.  Such  materials  as 
binder  twine,  salt,  harness,  Paris  green,  all  kinds 
of  farm  implements,  vehicles,  sewing-machines, 
and  fruit  trees  are  purchased  advantageously. 
Even  staple  groceries,  etc.,  are  sometimes  bought 
in  this  way.  Members  often  save  enough  in 
single  purchases  to  pay  all  their  expenses  for  the 
Grange.  There  is  no  capital  invested;  there 
are  no  debts  imposed  upon  himself  by  the  pur- 
chaser; and  there  has  not  been  extreme  difficulty 
in  securing  favorable  contracts.  The  plan 
seems  destined  to  continued  enlargement  and 
usefulness  as  a  legitimate  phase  of  business  co- 
operation.    Michigan   Granges  purchased  not 


THE  GRANGE  157 

less  than  #350,000  worth  of  goods  during  1905, 
under  such  a  plan.  The  estimate  for  Maine  is 
over  half  a  million  dollars. 

In  several  states  the  organization  successfully 
conducts  mutual  fire  insurance  companies; 
active  membership  in  the  Grange  being  an  essen- 
tial requisite  for  membership  in  the  insurance 
company.  Wherever  these  companies  have 
become  well  established,  it  is  asserted  that  they 
maintain  a  lower  rate  of  assessment  than  even 
the  popular  "farmers'  mutuals."  In  New  York 
there  are  twenty-three  Grange  companies,  with 
policies  aggregating  #85,000,000,  the  average 
cost  for  the  year  1905  being  #1.96  per  thousand. 
Single  companies  claim  to  have  secured  even 
better  rates.  This  insurance  not  only  pays 
individuals,  but  it  attracts  and  holds  members. 
In  New  Hampshire  a  fairly  successful  Grange 
life  insurance  company  exists. 

In  co-operative  selling,  the  order  has  so  far 
accomplished  very  little,  except  locally  and 
among  individuals  or  Granges.  There  is  a 
supreme  difficulty  in  the  way  of  successful  trans- 
fers among  patrons  themselves,  as  members 
desiring  to  buy  wish  the  very  lowest  prices; 
those  desiring  to  sell,  the  very  highest  prices. 
Arbitration  under  such  circumstances  is  not  easy. 


158  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

The  fundamental  obstacle  to  members  selling 
together  on  the  general  market  is  that,  in  most 
cases,  all  members  do  not  have  the  same  things 
to  sell.  A  co-operative  creamery,  for  instance, 
is  organized  on  the  basis  of  a  product — butter; 
the  Grange  is  organized  on  the  basis  of  manhood 
— and  each  man  may  have  his  crop  or  stock 
specialty.  This  difficulty,  though  grave,  is  not, 
perhaps,  insuperable,  and  will  tend  to  disappear 
as  membership  enlarges.  But  it  is  only  fair  to 
state  that,  so  far,  the  Grange  has  not  been  able 
to  devise  any  successful  plan  for  co-operative 
selling,  applicable  on  a  large  scale. 

There  are  two  or  three  features  that  deserve 
further  mention.  One  is  the  position  of  the 
family  in  the  Grange.  It  is  stated  that  the 
Grange  was  the  first  secret  organization  to  place 
woman  on  a  plane  of  perfect  equality  with  man. 
In  every  association  each  female  member  has  a 
vote.  Woman  has  four  special  offices  assigned 
to  her  sex,  and  is  eligible  to  any  office  in  the 
gift  of  the  order.  The  majority  of  subordinate 
lecturers  are  women;  many  subordinate  and 
even  Pomona  masters  are  women;  Michigan's 
state  lecturer  is  a  woman  who  is  revolutionizing 
the  educational  work  of  the  order  in  that  state; 
while  Minnesota  had  for  some  years  a  competent 


THE  GRANGE  159 

and  earnest  woman  as  state  master.  Every 
delegate  to  every  State  Grange  is  a  dual  delegate 
— man  and  wife.  The  state  master  and  his 
wife  are  delegates  to  the  National  Grange. 
Women  serve  on  all  committees  in  these  gather- 
ings, and  a  woman's  voice  is  frequently  heard  in 
debates.  And  not  only  the  wife,  but,  as  pre- 
viously stated,  the  children  above  fourteen  years 
of  age  may  attain  full  membership.  A  large 
proportion  of  every  healthy  Grange  consists  of 
young  people,  who  have  their  share  in  the  active 
work.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  order  con- 
serves the  family  life.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  other 
social  institution  in  rural  communities,  not  ex- 
cepting the  church,  so  completely  interests  the 
entire  family. 

The  organization  is  also  a  conservator  of 
morals.  While  sectarian  discussions  are  as 
foreign  to  its  purposes  as  is  partisan  politics,  and 
while  it  does  not  even  pretend  to  take  the  place 
of  the  church,  it  is  built  on  a  truly  religious 
foundation.  Its  ritual  is  permeated,  in  word 
and  in  sentiment,  by  the  religious  spirit.  Every 
meeting  opens  and  closes  with  prayer.  Moral 
character  is  constantly  eulogized  and  glorified  in 
Grange  esoteric  literature.  The  membership 
comes  almost  exclusively  from  that  large  class  of 


160  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

farmers  who  are  moral,  high-minded,  God- 
fearing men  and  women. 

The  Grange  has  been  opposed,  both  by  farm- 
ers and  by  others,  because  secrecy  is  not  a 
desirable  attribute;  but  the  experience  of 
forty  years  and  the  uniform  testimony  of  all 
leaders  in  the  work  declare  that  this  was  a  wise 
provision.  No  influential  member  has,  so  far  as 
it  is  known,  proposed  that  the  order  should  be 
dismantled  of  its  secret  features.  The  ritualistic 
work  is  not  burdensome.  Occasionally  the 
processes  of  initiation  may  take  time  that  ought 
to  be  allotted  to  educational  work;  but,  if  the 
initiation  is  properly  conducted,  it  has  of  itself 
a  high  educational  value. 

The  financial  status  of  the  Grange  itself  is 
worth  noting.  The  fees  for  joining  are  merely 
nominal,  while  the  dues  are  only  ten  cents  a 
month  per  member.  These  fees  and  dues 
support  the  subordinate  Granges,  the  State 
Grange,  and  the  National  Grange.  There  are 
no  high-salaried  officials  in  the  order,  and  few 
salaried  positions  of  any  kind.  The  National 
Grange  today  has  nearly  $100,000  in  its  treasury, 
and  several  State  Granges  have  substantial 
reserves.  This  policy  is  pursued,  not  for  the 
love  of  hoarding,  but  because  it  is  believed  that 


THE  GRANGE  161 

it  tends  to  the  permanency  and  solidarity  of  the 
order. 

The  Grange  is  a  live  institution;  it  has  within 
itself  the  capacity  for  satisfying  a  great  need  in 
rural  society;  and  it  is  destined  to  growth  and 
larger  and  more  permanent  usefulness.  It  is 
based  on  correct  principles:  organization,  co- 
operation, education.  It  is  neither  a  political 
party  nor  a  business  agency.  It  is  progressively 
conservative — or  conservatively  progressive.  It 
is  neither  ultra-radical  nor  forever  in  the  rut. 
Its  chief  work  is  on  cultural  lines.  It  includes 
the  entire  family.  It  is  now  growing,  and  there 
is  every  reason  for  thinking  that  this  growth  is  of 
a  permanent  character. 

The  Grange  is  ambitious  to  take  its  place 
beside  the  school  and  the  church,  as  one  of  a 
trinity  of  forces  that  shall  mold  the  life  of  the 
farmer  on  the  broadest  possible  basis — material, 
intellectual,  social,  and  ethical.  Is  there  any 
good  reason  why  this  ambition  is  not  worthy, 
or  why  its  goal  should  not  be  won  ? 


CHAPTER  XI 
OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  FARM  WOMEN 

While  rural  life  is  often  supposed  to  be  fatally 
deficient  in  facilities  for  growth  because  of  its 
isolation,  the  women  living  on  our  farms  are 
thought  to  be  the  especial  victims  of  this  lack  of 
social  opportunity.  No  doubt  there  is  much 
of  truth  in  the  popular  opinion.  Modern  city 
life  unquestionably  tends  to  enliven,  to  sharpen, 
to  put  a  razor-edge  on  capacity.  Naturally  the 
women  as  well  as  the  men  of  the  city  are  thus 
stimulated.  An  instance  of  the  opportunities 
constantly  presented  to  the  city  women  is  the 
rapid  multiplication  of  women's  clubs,  which, 
especially  in  smaller  towns,  are  absolutely 
revolutionizing  the  life  of  womankind.  But 
have  not  the  women  of  the  country  some  re- 
sources of  a  similar  character?  Can  they  not 
in  some  way  break  the  bonds  of  isolation  ?  Are 
there  not  for  them  some  of  the  blessings  that 
come  from  a  highly  organized  society?  Are 
there  not,  in  the  country  also,  opportunities  for 
the  co-operation  of  mind  and  heart  for  common 
service?  I  think  all  these  questions  can  be 
1 62 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  FARM  WOMEN      163 

answered  in  the  affirmative.  It  is  at  least  worth 
while  to  endeavor  to  describe  several  means  by 
which  the  woman  of  the  farm  can  keep  pace  with 
her  urban  sister,  and  under  conditions  not  so 
discouraging  as  many  may  suppose. 

Probably  no  movement  has  had  such  a  pro- 
found significance  for  the  farm  women  of 
America  as  has  the  Grange  movement.  We 
have  already  discussed  the  general  aspects  of 
Grange  work.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  farmer's  wife  is  practically  equal  with  her 
husband  in  Grange  law  and  practice.  She 
votes,  she  may  hold  office,  even  the  higher 
executive  offices.  A  delegate  to  the  State 
Grange  is  always  two — a  man  and  his  wife  if 
he  has  one.  The  wife  serves  on  committees  and 
votes  as  she  pleases.  This  equality  extends 
throughout  the  order.  The  woman  bears  her 
share  of  work;  she  reads  papers;  she  directs 
the  social  phases  of  the  Grange;  she  talks  on 
farm  topics  if  she  wants  to;  she  debates  school 
affairs;  she  visits  neighboring  Granges.  All 
this  means  education,  and  education  of  a  very 
valuable  sort,  the  effects  of  which  permeate  so 
thoroughly  those  communities  where  the  Grange 
has  long  been  established  that  one  hardly  real- 
izes the  work  that  has    been   accomplished. 


164  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

For  it  is  not  at  all  an  exaggeration  to  assert  that  a 
positive  revolution  often  comes  about  from  the 
planting  of  a  Grange  in  a  neighborhood  where 
no  such  organization  has  ever  existed.  It  finds 
most  of  the  women  diffident,  many  of  them  with 
restricted  views,  few  of  them  with  the  instinct 
for  social  service  developed  beyond  the  needs 
of  friendly  neighbors.  In  the  Grange  these 
women  find  new  acquaintances,  learn  the  power 
of  concerted  action,  meet  the  responsibility  of 
office,  get  to  their  feet  for  a  few  words — unheard- 
of  courage !  Such  speech  is  usually  brief  and 
perhaps  not  ready,  but  it  is  likely  to  be  cogent, 
because  it  is  born  of  experience  and  "stops 
when  through."  County  and  perhaps  State 
Granges  add  their  experiences.  And  so  on 
through  the  years  these  shy,  reserved,  possibly 
narrow,  lives  come  to  flower.  And  the  Grange 
has  furnished  the  dynamic.  Strong  leaders 
among  farm  women  have  been  developed  by  the 
opportunities  the  Grange  has  afforded  them. 
And  thousands  of  other  women  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  have  by  this  same  means  grown  out 
of  their  narrowness,  "discovered  themselves," 
and  become  comparatively  cultured,  well  read, 
able  to  take  a  woman's  place  in  this  day  of 
woman's  power  as  a  public  factor.    It  is  safe 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  FARM  WOMEN      165 

to  say  that  the  Grange  has  been  the  greatest 
single  influence  in  America  with  respect  to  the 
development  of  the  women  of  the  farm. 

Another  factor  in  the  life  of  farm  women  which 
has  arisen  in  more  recent  years  is  the  farmers' 
institute!  The  audiences  in  some  cases  are 
largely  of  men,  but  as  a  rule  the  attendance  of 
women  averages  one-third  to  one-half.  Until 
very  recent  years  the  women  joined  with  the 
men  in  all  sessions  of  the  institute,  and  their 
presence  was  recognized  by  appropriate  subjects 
on  the  programme,  frequently  presented  by 
women  themselves.  Several  years  ago  Minne- 
sota and  Wisconsin  initiated  separate  meetings 
for  women,  held  simultaneously  with  the  main 
meeting,  for  purposes  of  instruction  in  domestic 
science.  Michigan,  a  little  later,  developed  the 
"women's  section"  of  the  farmers'  institute. 
This  is  held  one  afternoon  of  the  usual  two-day 
session  of  the  institute  in  a  hall  separate  from 
the  general  meeting,  and  only  women  attend. 
Two  topics  are  presented  for  discussion,  one  by 
a  woman  sent  by  the  state,  the  other  by  a  woman 
from  the  town  or  a  neighboring  farm.  Topics 
concerning  child-training,  making  housework 
easier,  home  life  on  the  farm,  and  even  themes 
relating  to  the  problems  that  center  about  the  sex 


1 66  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

question,  are  thoroughly  discussed.  Women 
take  part  much  more  freely  than  they  do  in  the 
general  sessions  of  the  institute.  Across  the 
border,  in  Ontario,  the  women  have  formed 
separate  institutes,  as  they  have  also  in  Indiana. 

All  this  means  a  new  opportunity  for  the  farm 
woman.  The  Grange  is  an  organization,  and 
its  members  gain  all  the  development  that  comes 
from  engaging  in  the  work  required  to  maintain 
a  semi-literary  and  social  organization.  The 
institute,  on  the  other  hand,  is  an  event,  and 
there  cluster  about  it  all  the  inspiration  and 
suggestion  that  can  come  from  any  notable  con- 
vention for  which  one  will  sacrifice  not  a  little 
in  order  to  attend.  Institute  work  for  women  is 
in  its  beginnings. 

So  far  we  have  found  that  existing  institutions 
for  women  in  rural  districts  bring  together  merely 
the  women  of  the  farm.  In  the  women's 
section  of  the  institutes  half  the  audience  is 
usually  from  the  town.  This  meeting  occurs, 
however,  but  once  a  year,  and  the  social  effect 
of  the  commingling  of  city  and  farm  women  can 
prove  only  suggestive  of  the  desirability  of 
further  opportunity  for  similar  gatherings.  At 
a  Michigan  institute  some  years  ago  this  desire 
fructified,  and  the  product  was  a  "Town  and 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  FARM  WOMEN      167 

Country  Club."  This  club  secured  a  majority 
of  its  membership,  of  some  ninety,  from  among 
women  residing  on  farms.  Its  meetings  are  bi- 
weekly. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  sort  of  club 
may  be  organized  in  large  numbers.  It  repre- 
sents another  step  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
farm  woman,  because  it  brings  her  into  contact 
with  her  city  sister — and  contact  that  is  immedi- 
ate, vital,  inspiring,  continuous,  and  mutually 
helpful.  It  may  be  thought  unnecessary  to 
form  a  new  set  of  clubs  for  the  purpose  indicated, 
but  the  fact  seems  to  be  that  the  ordinary 
women's  club  even  in  small  towns  has  failed  to 
reach  the  woman  who  makes  her  home  upon 
the  farm. 

Another  feature  of  this  idea  of  the  Town  and 
Country  Club  is  the  "rest  room"  for  farmers' 
wives.  In  a  number  of  cases  where  this  has 
been  tried,  the  women  of  the  village  or  town 
provide  a  room  as  near  the  shopping  center  of 
the  town  as  possible,  where  the  country  women 
can  find  a  place  to  rest,  to  lunch,  and  to  leave 
their  children.  These  rooms  are  fitted  up  in  a 
neat  but  inexpensive  manner  with  the  necessary 
conveniences,  and  are  entirely  free  to  those  for 
whom  they  were  intended.  If  these  rooms 
are  well  managed,  they  offer  not  only  a  very 


168  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

practical  form  of  assistance  to  the  women  of  the 
farm,  but  they  may  be  the  means  of  developing 
a  form  of  co-operation  between  the  women  of 
the  village  and  the  farm,  and  eventually  leading 
to  some  permanent  scheme  of  mutual  work. 
Possibilities  of  this  sort  of  thing  are  easily  recog- 
nized. 

In  the  realms  of  higher  education  the  girl 
who  is  to  stay  upon  the  farm  has  not  been  wholly 
neglected.  In  Kansas,  Iowa,  Connecticut,  Illi- 
nois, Ohio,  and  Michigan,  at  least,  and  in  con- 
nection with  the  agricultural  colleges  of  those 
states,  courses  for  women  (including  domestic 
science)  have  been  provided.  They  are  well 
patronized  by  girls  from  the  farm.  Many  of 
these  girls  do  not  marry  farmers ;  many  of  them 
do.  And  their  college  training  having  thus  been 
secured  in  an  atmosphere  more  or  less  agricul- 
tural, they  must  inevitably  take  rank  among 
their  sisters  of  the  farm  as  leaders  in  demonstrat- 
ing what  farm  life  for  women  may  be. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  the  tremendous 
movement  of  recent  years  which  has  so  multiplied 
standard  reading-matter,  both  periodicals  and 
books,  has  reached  the  farm.  A  census  of 
country  post-offices  will  reveal  the  fact  that  the 
standard  magazines  go  regularly  to  thousands 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  FARM  WOMEN      169 

of  farm  homes.  Agricultural  papers,  religious 
papers,  and  even  dailies  find  multitudes  of  in- 
telligent readers  among  farmers. 

With  the  advent  of  better  highways,  electric 
car  lines,  rural  free  delivery,  and  the  rural  tele- 
phone, each  of  which  is  looming  on  the  horizon 
as  an  important  feature  of  American  farm  life; 
with  the  Grange  or  similar  organization  in  every 
school  district;  with  the  development  of  courses 
for  women  at  all  our  colleges  of  agriculture,  and 
the  logical  complement  of  such  courses  in  the 
form  of  college  extension — farmers'  institutes, 
reading-courses,  traveling  libraries,  lecture  and 
correspondence  courses — we  shall  find  farm  life 
taking  on  a  new  dress,  and  perhaps  farmers' wives 
may  come  to  enjoy  the  envy  of  those  women  who 
are  unfortunate  enough  not  to  have  married 
farmers. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS 

The  only  way  to  an  understanding  of  the  re- 
lation of  the  church  to  rural  progress  is  through 
an  appreciation  of  the  place  which  the  church 
as  a  social  institution  may  have  among  other 
social  institutions  affecting  rural  life.  More- 
over, to  know  the  value  of  these  institutions  one 
must  first  know  the  rural  social  needs.  May  we 
not  then,  even  at  the  risk  of  repetition,  take  a 
brief  survey  of  these  needs  and  institutions,  in 
order  that  we  may  more  clearly  attain  the  proper 
point  of  view  ? 

At  the  outset  let  us  be  sure  that  we  have  sym- 
pathy with  the  countryman  as  such.  It  is 
often  argued  that  the  rural  question,  or  any  phase 
of  it,  as  for  instance  the  question  of  the  rural 
church,  is  important  because  the  country  supplies 
the  best  blood  to  the  city — and  a  roll-call  of  the 
famous  country-born  is  read  to  prove  the  point. 
This  may  be  all  true.  But  it  is  only  a  partial 
view,  for  it  places  the  emphasis  upon  the 
leaving  of  the  farm,  whereas  the  emphasis 
should  be  placed  upon  the  farm  and  those  who 
170 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   171 

stay  there.  We  may  praise  the  country  because 
it  furnishes  brain  and  brawn  for  the  world's 
work;  we  may  argue  for  country  life  because 
it  possesses  a  good  environment  in  which  to 
rear  a  family;  we  may  demand  a  school  system 
that  shall  give  the  country  child  as  good  a  chance 
as  the  city  child  has.  In  all  this  we  do  well. 
But  we  do  not  yet  stand  face  to  face  with  the 
rural  problem. 

For  the  rural  problem  is  the  problem  of  those 
who  farm.  It  is  the  problem  of  the  man  behind 
the  plow.  It  is  he  that  is  the  center  of  interest. 
His  business,  his  success,  his  manhood,  his 
family,  his  environment,  his  education,  his  fu- 
ture— these  constitute  the  problem  of  the  farm. 
Half  our  people  make  their  living  from  the 
brown  soil.  In  virtue,  in  intelligence,  in  real 
worth,  this  half  compare  favorably  with  the 
other  half  who  saw  wood,  and  shovel  sand,  and 
pull  throttles,  and  prepare  briefs,  and  write 
sermons.  The  business  of  agriculture  provides 
directly  for  the  material  welfare  of  nearly  forty 
millions  of  our  people.  It  supports  gigantic  rail- 
way systems,  fills  the  hulls  of  immense  ships, 
furnishes  raw  material  for  thousands  of  indus- 
tries. This  rural  hemisphere  of  American  eco- 
nomic and  social  life  is  surely  worthy  the  thought 


172  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  the  captain  of  industry,  of  the  statesman,  of  the 
economist,  of  the  educator,  of  the  preacher.  We 
may  also,  without  danger  of  being  put  to  con- 
fusion, assume  that  the  tiller  of  the  soil  is  in 
essential  character  very  much  like  other  people. 
Farmer  nature  is  usually  a  fair  specimen  of 
human  nature.  Nevertheless  the  environment 
of  the  farmer  is  a  peculiar  one.  Individually 
as  well  as  socially  he  is  comparatively  isolated. 
He  meets  but  little  social  friction.  The  class 
to  which  he  belongs  is  largely  a  segregated  class, 
physically  and  socially. 

All  these  things  give  to  the  rural  social  problem 
a  distinctive  character  and  give  rise  to  the  great 
social  needs  of  the  farmer.  What  are  these 
needs?  I  name  three:  (i)  Completer  organiza- 
tion. Farmers  do  not  co-operate  easily.  They 
never  had  to  co-operate  largely  under  the  old 
regime,  for  pioneer  farming  placed  a  premium 
on  individualism.  The  present  century  how- 
ever, with  its  emphasis  upon  organization  and 
co-operation,  calls  the  farmer  to  the  task  with 
the  warning,  cry  that  unless  he  does  organize  he 
is  in  danger  of  losing  his  present  industrial, 
political,  and  social  status.  (2)  Better  education. 
The  rural  schools  may  not  be  so  deficient  as  to 
deserve  all  the  scorn  heaped  upon  them  by 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   173 

educational  reformers;  but  it  is  little  enough 
to  say  that  they  can  be  vastly  improved.  They 
are  not  keeping  up  with  city  schools.  The 
country  is  especially  lacking  in  good  high-school 
privileges.  Of  technical  training  too,  in  spite 
of  forty  years  of  agricultural  colleges,  the 
country  is  sadly  in  need.  Neither  in  primary 
grades,  in  high  schools,  in  special  schools,  is 
there  an  adequate  amount  of  study  of  the 
principles  of  agriculture — principles  which  an 
age  of  science  demands  must  be  mastered  if  the 
independent  farmer  is  to  be  a  success.  (3) 
Quicker  communication.  Isolation  has  been 
the  bugbear  of  farm  life.  It  must  be  overcome 
partly  by  physical  means.  There  must  be  a 
closer  touch  between  individuals  of  the  class, 
and  between  farmers  and  the  dwellers  in  the 
town  and  city. 

These  social  needs  are  in  some  degree  met  by 
the  farmers'  organizations,  by  the  rural  and 
agricultural  schools,  and  by  the  development  of 
new  means  of  communication.  There  is  a  host 
of  minor  agencies.  In  other  chapters  I  have 
tried  to  show  how  these  various  institutions  are 
endeavoring  to  meet  these  rural  needs.  So  im- 
portant are  these  factors  of  rural  life  that  we 
may  now  raise  the  question,  What  should  be  the 


174  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

relation  of  the  rural  church  to  these  needs  and 
to  the  agencies  designed  to  meet  them?  In 
dealing  with  this  phase  of  the  subject,  we  may 
best  speak  of  the  church  most  frequently  in 
terms  of  the  pastor,  for  reasons  that  may  appear 
as  we  go  on. 

There  are  three  things  the  country  pastor 
may  do  in  order  to  bring  his  church  into  vital 
contact  with  these  great  sociological  movements. 
Of  course  he  may  ignore  them,  but  that  is 
church  suicide,  (i)  He  may  recognize  them. 
This  means  first  of  all  to  understand  them,  to 
appreciate  their  influence.  There  is  a  law  of 
the  division  of  labor  that  applies  to  institutions 
as  well  as  to  individuals.  This  law  helps  us  to 
understand  how  such  institutions  as  the  Grange 
and  farmers'  institutes  are  doing  a  work  that 
the  church  cannot  do.  They  are  doing  a  work 
that  needs  doing.  They  are  serving  human  need. 
No  pastor  can  afford  to  ignore  them,  much  less 
co  sneer  at  them  as  unclean;  he  may  well  apply 
the  lesson  of  Peter's  vision,  and  accept  them  as 
ministers  of  the  kingdom.  (2)  He  may  encour- 
age and  stimulate  them.  The  rural  pastor  may 
throw  himself  into  the  van  of  those  who  strive 
for  better  farming,  for  a  quicker  social  life,  for 
more  adequate  educational  facilities.     He  can 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   175 

well  take  up  the  r61e  of  promoter — a  promoter 
of  righteousness  and  peace  through  so-called 
secular  means.  Thus  shall  he  perform  the 
highest  function  of  the  prophet — to  spiritualize 
and  glorify  the  common.  But  the  rural  pastor 
can  go  even  farther.  (3)  He  may  co-operate 
with  them.  He  may  thus  assist  in  uniting  with 
the  church  all  of  those  other  agencies  that  make 
for  rural  progress,  and  thus  secure  a  "federa- 
tion," if  not  "of  the  world,"  at  least  of  all  the 
forces  that  are  helping  to  solve  the  farm  problem; 
and  he  may  thus  found  a  "parliament,"  if  not 
"of  man,"  at  least  of  all  who  believe  that  the 
rural  question  is  worth  solving  and  that  no  one 
movement  is  sufficient  to  solve  it. 

We  come  now  to  the  most  practical  part  of  our 
subject,  which  is,  how  the  proposed  relation 
between  church  and  other  rural  social  forces 
may  be  secured.  There  are  four  suggestions 
along  this  line. 

1.  Sociological  study  by  the  rural  pastor. 
This  is  fundamental.  In  general  it  means  a 
fairly  comprehensive  study  of  sociological  prin- 
ciples, some  study  of  sociological  problems,  and 
some  practice  in  sociological  investigation.  As 
it  relates  to  the  rural  pastor,  it  means  also  a 
knowledge  of  rural  sociology.    It  implies  a  grasp 


176  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

of  the  principles  and  significance  of  modern 
agricultural  science,  an  understanding  of  the 
history,  status,  and  needs  of  rural  and  agricul- 
tural education,  an  appreciation  of  and  sympa- 
thy for  the  co-operative  movements  among 
farmers.  Does  one  say,  this  is  asking  too  much 
of  the  burdened  country  pastor  with  his  meager 
salary  and  widespread  parish?  Let  me  ask 
if  the  pastor  has  any  other  road  to  power  except 
to  know?  Moreover,  the  task  is  not  so  formi- 
dable as  first  appears.  The  pastor  is  supposed  to 
be  a  trained  student,  and  since  he  needs  to 
know  these  things  only  in  broad  lines,  the  ac- 
quiring of  them  need  not  compel  the  midnight 
oil.  I  would,  however,  urge  that  every  pastor 
have  a  course  in  general  sociology,  either  in 
college  or  in  seminary,  and  if  he  has  the  slightest 
intimation  that  his  lines  will  be  cast  in  country 
places,  that  he  add  a  course  in  rural  sociology. 
Inasmuch  as  the  latter  course  is  at  present  offered 
in  few  academic  institutions  in  the  United  States, 
it  might  well  be  urged  that  brief  courses  in  rural 
sociology  be  offered  at  the  many  summer 
schools. 

But  sociological  study  by  the  pastor  means 
more  than  knowledge  of  the  general  principles  of 
sociology  and  of  the  problems  of  rural  sociology; 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   177 

it  means  a  minute  and  comprehensive  sociological 
study  of  his  particular  parish.  This  in  its 
simplest  form  consists  of  a  religious  canvass  such 
as  is  frequently  made  both  in  country  and  city. 
But  even  this  is  not  enough.  It  should  at  once 
be  supplemented  by  a  very  careful  and  indeed  a 
continuous  sociological  canvass,  in  which  de- 
tails about  the  whole  business  and  life  of  the 
farm  shall  be  collected  and  at  last  assimilated 
into  the  vital  structure  of  the  pastor's  knowledge 
of  his  problem. 

2.  The  second  suggestion  looks  toward  the 
establishment  of  a  social-service  church,  or  an 
institutional  church,  or  again,  as  one  has  phrased 
it,  a  "country  church  industrial."  There  seems 
to  be  a  growing  feeling  that  the  country  church 
may  become  not  only  the  distinctively  religious 
center  of  the  neighborhood,  but  also  the  social, 
the  intellectual,  and  the  aesthetic  center.  No 
doubt  there  is  untold  power  in  such  an  idea. 
No  doubt  the  country  church  has  a  peculiarly 
rich  and  inviting  field  for  community  service. 
It  would  be  gratifying  if  every  country  pastor 
would  study  the  possibilities  of  this  idea  and 
endeavor  to  make  an  experiment  with  it.  I 
have,  however,  a  supplemental  suggestion,  at 
this  point.    It  is  not  possible  to  make  of  every 


178  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

rural  church  an  institutional  church.  The 
church  is  notably  a  conservative  institution. 
The  rural  church  is  in  this  respect  "to  the 
manner  born."  Rural  church  members  are 
likely  to  be  ultra-conservative,  especially  as  to 
means  and  methods.  Even  if  this  were  not 
true,  we  might  well  lament  any  attempt  to 
establish  a  social-service  church  that  endeavored 
to  make  the  church  the  sole  motive  power  in 
rural  regeneration,  that  failed  to  recognize,  to 
encourage,  and  to  co-operate  with  the  other 
social  forces  which  we  have  mentioned.  But  if 
every  country  pastor  cannot  have  a  social-service 
church,  is  it  not  possible  that  every  country 
church  shall  have  a  social-service  pastor  ?  There 
are  some  things  the  church  cannot  do;  there  is 
nothing  it  may  not  through  its  pastor  inspire. 
There  are  some  uses  to  which  the  country  church 
cannot  be  put;  there  are  no  uses  to  which  the 
country  pastor  may  not  be  put — as  country 
pastors  know  by  experience.  The  pastor  ought 
to  be  an  authority  on  social  salvation  as  well  as 
on  personal  salvation.  He  ought  to  be  guide, 
philosopher,  and  friend  in  community  affairs  as 
well  as  in  personal  affairs.  Is  he  not  indeed  the 
logical  candidate  for  general  social  leadership 
in  the  rural  community  ?    He  is  educated,  he  is 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   179 

trained  to  think,  he  is  supposed  to  have  broad 
grasp  of  the  meaning  of  affairs,  he  usually 
possesses  many  of  the  qualities  of  leadership. 
He  is  relatively  a  fixture.  He  is  less  transient 
than  the  teacher.  He  is  the  only  man  in  the 
community  whose  tastes  are  sociological  and 
who  is  at  the  same  time  a  paid  man — all  this 
aside  from  the  question  of  the  munificence  of 
his  stipend.  Let  us  then  have  the  social- 
service  rural  church  if  we  can;  but  let  us 
have  the  social-service  rural  pastor  at  all 
hazards,  as  the  first  term  in  the  formula  for 
solving  the  sociological  problem  of  the  country 
church. 

3.  Co-operation  among  rural  churches.  The 
manifest  lack  of  co-operation  among  churches 
seems  to  many  laymen  to  result  in  a  tre- 
mendous waster  of  power.  Of  course  it  is  a 
very  hard  problem.  But  is  it  insoluble?  It 
would  seem  not.  One  would  think  that  the 
plan  of  union  suggested  by  Dr.  Strong  in  The 
New  Era  is  wholly  practicable.  But  the  burden 
of  the  suggestion  at  this  point  is  this:  Cannot 
the  churches  unite  sufficiently  for  a  thorough 
religious  and  sociological  canvass?  If  they 
cannot  federate  on  a  theological  platform,  can 
they  not  unite  on  a  statistical  platform  ?    If  they 


180  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

cannot  unite  for  religious  work,  can  they  not 
join  hands  long  enough  to  secure  a  more  intelli- 
gent basis  for  their  separate  work  ?  It  seems 
to  me  that  this  sort  of  union  is  worth  while,  and 
that  it  is  something  in  which  there  could  be  full 
union,  in  which  "there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 
there  is  neither  bond  nor  free." 

4.  The  pastor  may  aid  if  not  lead  in  the  fed- 
eration of  rural  social  forces.  The  idea  in- 
volved is  substantially  this:  Given  a  farmers' 
organization  that  ministers  chiefly  to  industrial 
and  economic  ends,  though  incidentally  to 
moral  and  educational  ones;  a  school  system 
that  feeds  chiefly  the  accepted  educational  needs, 
though  acting  perhaps  as  a  moving  force  in 
industrial  and  social  betterment;  a  church 
which  is  chiefly  a  religious  institution,  but 
which  touches  the  life  of  the  community  at 
many  other  points — given  these  things  and  the 
obvious  next  step  is  co-operation  among  them 
all,  in  order  that  a  well-balanced  kind  of  social 
progress  may  result.  This  form  of  federation 
means  the  attempt  to  solve  the  farm  problem  at 
all  points.  It  suggests  that  the  army  of  rural 
progress  shall  march  with  the  wings  abreast  the 
center.  It  means  that  the  farmer,  the  editor, 
the  educator,  the  preacher — all,  shall  see  the 


COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  PROGRESS   181 

work  that  needs  doing,  in  all  its  fulness,  and, 
seeing,  shall  resolve  to  push  ahead  side  by 
side. 

To  sum  up :  The  rural  problem  is  a  neglected 
but  exceedingly  important  question.  Out  of 
the  peculiar  environment  of  the  farmer  grow 
his  peculiar  social  needs,  namely,  better  organi- 
zation, fuller  and  richer  education,  quicker 
communication.  To  meet  these  supreme  needs 
we  find  a  growing  and  already  powerful  coterie 
of  farmers'  organizations,  somewhat  hetero- 
geneous but  rapidly  developing  plans  of  agri- 
cultural education,  and  a  marvelous  evolution 
of  the  means  of  transportation  for  body,  voice, 
and  missive.  These  needs  and  these  agencies 
are  selected  as  the  conspicuous  and  vital  element 
in  the  sociological  problem  that  confronts  the 
rural  pastor.  What  shall  be  his  attitude  toward 
them?  He  may  ignore  them;  but  we  assume 
that  he  will  seek  to  work  with  them  and  to  use 
them  for  the  greater  glory  of  God.  He  must 
then  recognize  them,  encourage  them,  and  co- 
operate with  them.  To  do  this  successfully 
he  must  first  be  a  student  of  sociology;  he  can 
then  well  afford  to  meditate  upon  the  possibilities 
of  making  his  church  in  some  measure  a  social- 
service  church  or  at  least  of  making  of  himself 


1 82  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

a  social-service  pastor;  he  can  work  for  church 
union  at  least  on  sociological  lines;  and  finally 
he  can  do  his  best  to  secure  an  active  federa- 
tion of  all  the  forces  involved  in  the  rural 
problem. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS 

In  some  respects  the  most  notable  recent 
advance  in  rural  matters  consists  in  the  improved 
means  of  communication  in  rural  districts.  The 
country  is  relatively  isolated,  and  it  is  this  isola- 
tion in  its  extreme  forms  that  is  the  bane  of 
country  living.  Undue  conservatism,  lack  of 
conformity  to  progressive  views,  undue  promi- 
nence of  class  feeling,  and  a  tendency  to  be  less 
alert  are  things  that  grow  out  of  this  isolation;  but 
better  means  of  communication  decrease  these 
difficulties,  and  the  last  few  years  have  seen  a 
remarkable  advance  in  this  respect.  For 
instance,  the  rural  free  mail  delivery  system  is 
only  ten  years  old,  and  yet  today  there  are  more 
than  twenty-five  thousand  routes  of  this  character 
in  the  United  States  serving  possibly  twenty 
million  people  with  daily  mail,  a  great  proportion 
of  whom  before  had  very  irregular  mail  service. 
Results  are  patent  and  marked.  Time  is  saved 
in  going  for  mail;  market  reports  come  daily; 
farmers  are  more  prompt  in  their  business  deal- 
ings; roads  are  kept  in  better  shape;  there  is  an 
183 


1 84  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

increased  circulation  of  papers  and  magazines. 
Thus  the  farmer  is  in  closer  touch  with  affairs 
and  much  more  alert  to  business  opportunities, 
to  political  activities,  and  to  social  movements. 
The  circulation  of  daily  papers  in  country  dis- 
tricts has  increased  at  a  marvelous  rate.  The 
amount  of  letter- writing  has  increased.  Rural 
delivery  of  mail  arouses  the  spirit  of  "being  in 
the  world."  Its  results  have  been  almost 
revolutionary. 

So,  too,  the  rural  telephone.  Recent  investi- 
gation in  the  states  of  Ohio,  Michigan,  and 
Indiana  showed  that  out  of  200,000  subscribers 
to  the  independent  telephone  companies  of  those 
states  about  one-sixth  were  in  farm  homes.  A 
few  years  ago,  hardly  a  telephone  could  be  found 
in  a  farmer's  family.  This  business  is  constantly 
increasing.  The  established  telephone  com- 
panies are  pushing  their  work  into  the  country 
districts,  small  local  exchanges  are  being  formed, 
and  soon  the  farmers,  in  the  North  at  least,  will 
be  almost  as  well  served  by  the  telephone  as  are 
people  of  the  smaller  cities. 

Interurban  electric  railways  are  being  built 
very  rapidly  and  their  advantage  to  the  farmer 
is  obvious.  It  is  doubtful  if  their  effect  has  been 
quite  so  far-reaching  as  some  have  suggested. 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       185 

At  present  they  very  largely  parallel  existing 
steam  railways,  and  while  they  give  better 
freight  and  passenger  service  and  assist  mate- 
rially in  diminishing  rural  isolation  in  the  areas 
which  they  traverse,  their  influence  does  not 
extend  very  far  from  the  line  itself,  and  they 
reach  relatively  small  areas  of  the  country. 
However,  their  value  to  the  farmer  is  very  large, 
and,  as  they  increase  in  number  and  in  efficiency 
of  service,  they  will  become  a  powerful  factor 
in  rural  progress. 

The  good-roads  movement  is  beginning  to 
take  on  large  proportions.  It  is,  however,  a 
complicated  question.  To  make  first-class  roads 
is  a  costly  business,  and  while  a  few  such  roads 
are  of  great  value  in  a  general  social  way,  they 
do  not  quite  make  general  country  conditions 
ideal.  To  accomplish  this,  every  road  in  the 
country  should  be  a  good  road  the  year  through, 
and  this  is  an  ideal  very  difficult  of  realization. 
However,  in  general,  the  roads  are  improving 
and  as  rapidly  as  the  wealth  of  the  country  will 
permit  the  road  system  of  the  United  States  will 
be  developed.  Of  course,  good  roads  are  a 
prime  requisite  for  rural  betterment. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  during  the  past 
decade  the  improvement  of  means  of  communica- 


186  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

tion  in  rural  districts  has  gone  forward  at  a 
marvelously  rapid  pace.  Nor  is  it  exaggerating 
to  say  that  the  movements  named  are  re-creating 
farm  life. 

During  this  same  period,  there  has  been  an 
almost  equally  wonderful  advance  in  the  means 
of  agricultural  education.  Just  twenty  years 
ago  the  experiment-station  system  of  this 
country  was  established.  It  took  ten  years  for 
the  stations  to  organize  their  work  and  to  gain 
the  confidence  of  the  farmers.  At  present 
however,  they  are  looked  upon  with  great  favor 
by  the  farming  class  and  are  doing  a  magnificent 
work.  Their  function  is  that  of  research  chiefly, 
although  they  attempt  some  control  service,  such 
as  inspection  of  fertilizers,  stock  foods,  etc.  In 
research  they  aim  both  to  study  the  more  intricate 
scientific  questions  that  relate  to  agriculture  and 
to  carry  on  experiments  that  are  of  more  obvious 
and  more  immediate  practical  application  to 
existing  conditions  in  the  various  states.  There 
is  one  of  these  stations  in  each  state  and  territory, 
besides  a  number  of  stations  supported  by  state 
funds.  The  Department  of  Agriculture  at 
Washington  has  also  developed  during  the  last 
ten  years  until  it  is  performing  very  large  service 
for  agriculture.    Its  annual  expenditures  aggre- 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       187 

gate  eight  or  ten  million  dollars,  and  it  has  in  its 
employment  hundreds  of  experts  carrying  on 
laboratory  and  field  research,  scouring  the  world 
for  plants  and  seeds  that  may  be  of  economic 
value,  and  assisting  to  control  plant  and  animal 
diseases.  It  is  also  distributing  a  vast  amount 
of  practical  information,  put  in  readable  form 
and  adapted  to  the  average  farmer.  Its  work 
of  seeking  to  extend  the  markets  of  our  agricul- 
tural products  is  one  of  its  notable  successes. 

Agricultural  schools  have  been  talked  about 
for  a  century,  and  during  the  early  part  of  the 
last  century  several  were  started.  The  first 
permanent  agricultural  college  was  opened  in 
1857,  in  Michigan.  The  Morrill  Act  of  1862 
gave  rise  to  a  system  of  such  colleges  and  today 
there  will  be  found  one  in  every  state  and  terri- 
tory, besides  several  for  the  colored  people  of 
the  South.  Up  to  1890,  these  colleges  had  been 
not  wholly  satisfactory  and  the  farming  class 
was  not  patronizing  very  fully  their  agricultural 
courses.  The  fault  belonged  both  to  the  college 
and  to  the  farmers.  The  farmers  were  skeptical 
of  the  value  of  agricultural  education,  and  the 
colleges  were  often  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
real  needs  of  the  farmers,  and  in  fact  found  it 
difficult  to  break  away  from  the  pedagogical 


1 88  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

ideals  of  the  old  educational  regime.  Since 
1890,  however,  there  has  been  a  complete  change 
of  sentiment  in  this  respect,  particularly  in  the 
Middle  West.  There  the - '  land-grant ' '  colleges, 
whether  separate  colleges  or  whether  organized 
as  colleges  of  state  universities,  are  securing 
magnificent  buildings  for  agriculture,  are  offer- 
ing fully  equipped  courses,  and  are  enrolling 
as  students  some  of  the  best  men  in  college, 
whom  they  are  educating  not  only  for  agricul- 
tural teachers  and  experimenters  but  also  for 
practical  farmers.  Of  course,  there  are  many 
grave  problems  connected  with  this  subject, 
many  farmers  who  do  not  yet  respond  to  the  call 
for  educated  agriculturists,  and  some  colleges  that 
do  not  yet  appreciate  their  opportunity.  But  the 
change  for  the  better  has  been  so  marked  that  all 
agricultural  educators  are  extremely  optimistic. 
One  of  the  most  difficult  and  most  important 
phases  of  agricultural  education  is  that  of  a 
secondary  grade.  The  great  proportion  of 
educated  farmers  will  probably  be  trained  for 
their  business  in  secondary  schools.  This 
problem  is  being  approached  from  many  stand- 
points. The  University  of  Minnesota  estab- 
lished, some  fourteen  years  ago,  a  school  of 
agriculture,  which  now  enrols  several  hundred 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       189 

pupils  of  both  sexes.  Wisconsin  is  trying  the 
experiment  of  two  county  schools  of  agriculture. 
Occasionally  the  public  high  school  will  be 
found  offering  a  course  in  agriculture.  Several 
states  are  experimenting  in  one  or  more  of  these 
lines,  and  during  the  next  few  years  we  shall  see 
a  large  development  of  this  phase  of  agricultural 
education. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  movements  in 
agricultural  education  has  been  an  attempt  to 
introduce  nature-study  and  even  the  elements  of 
agriculture  into  the  country  schools.  Cornell 
University  has  taken  the  lead  in  advocating 
"nature-study"  purely,  for  the  schools;  and 
the  University  of  Missouri  has  perhaps  been  the 
leader  in  advocating  that  the  work  be  made 
even  more  definite  and  practical,  and  that  the 
country  pupils  shall  be  taught,  during  their 
early  years  even,  "the  elements  of  agriculture." 
Both  plans  are  being  worked  out  with  a  fair 
degree  of  success,  and  many  other  states  are 
carrying  out  the  work  in  some  form  or  other. 
Of  course  the  idea  is  not  a  new  one,  but  its  pres- 
ent practical  application  is  a  timely  one,  and  it 
will  not  be  long  before  this  branch  of  agricultural 
education  will  become  a  prominent  factor  in 
rural  betterment. 


190  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

A  most  suggestive  phase  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation is  college  extension  work.  University 
extension  has  had  a  rather  meteoric  career  in 
this  country,  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  connected 
with  educational  institutions;  although  the 
extension  idea  is  spreading  rapidly  and  is  being 
worked  out  through  home  study  and  correspond- 
ence courses  of  all  sorts.  But  I  think  there  is 
scarcely  any  field  in  which  the  real  college  ex- 
tension idea  is  today  being  more  successfully 
applied  than  in  agriculture.  The  work  started 
with  farmers'  institutes,  which  were  instituted 
about  twenty-five  years  ago  and  which  have  been 
adopted  in  practically  all  the  states  of  the  Union. 
It  has  broadened  within  ten  years,  until  now  it 
is  carried  on  not  only  by  farmers  '  institutes,  but 
through  home-correspondence  courses,  the  intro- 
duction of  millions  of  pamphlets  into  farm  homes, 
demonstrations  in  spraying,  butter-making,  soil 
testing,  milk  testing,  and  so  on. 

Ontario  presents  a  good  illustration  of  how  a 
new  agriculture  can  be  created,  in  a  dozen  years, 
by  co-operating  methods  of  agricultural  educa- 
tion. Her  provincial  department  of  agriculture, 
her  experiment  station,  her  agricultural  college, 
her  various  forms  of  extension  work,  and  her 
various  societies  of  agriculturists  have  all  worked 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       191 

together  with  an  unusual  degree  of  harmony 
for  the  deliberate  purpose  of  inducing  Canadian 
agriculturists  to  produce  the  things  that  will 
bring  the  most  profit.  The  results  have  been 
most  astonishing  and  most  gratifying. 

The  recent  progress  in  the  organization  of 
farmers  has  been  less  marked  than  has  been 
the  development  of  rural  communication  and 
agricultural  education.  Organization  is  a 
prime  requisite  for  farmers.  They  feel  this 
truth  themselves.  For  the  last  forty  years, 
many  attempts — some  large,  some  small,  some 
successful,  some  great  failures — have  been  made 
to  this  end.  The  problem  is  an  extremely 
difficult  one.  Business  co-operation  among 
farmers  is  especially  difficult  and,  while  co- 
operation has  developed  quite  largely — so  much 
so  that  the  Department  of  Agriculture  was  able 
to  report,  a  year  ago,  a  list  of  five  thousand  co- 
operative societies  of  various  kinds  among 
farmers — still  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  farmers 
are  co-operating  industrially  in  a  relatively  large 
way.  They  have,  however,  a  multitude  of 
associations  and  societies.  They  have  also  the 
Grange,  which  is  the  most  successful  of  all  the 
general  organizations  of  farmers  in  the  country. 
Contrary  to  public  belief,  the  Grange  is  not 


192  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

defunct,  but  has  been  growing  at  a  very  rapid 
pace  during  the  last  few  years  and  has  a  large 
influence  especially  in  the  East  and  Middle 
West.  It  has  practically  no  existence  in  the 
far  West  and  in  the  South.  It  has  a  national 
organization,  however,  representing  some  twenty- 
six  states.  Its  influence  in  Congress  is  said  to 
be  marked.  The  local  Granges  are  doing  a  very 
large  work,  socially,  educationally,  and  some- 
times financially.  The  Grange  seems  to  under- 
stand itself  now.  Its  ideals  have  been  worked 
out  pretty  carefully,  and  its  future  growth  is 
quite  certain. 

We  have  suggested  that  the  significant  rural 
social  movements  of  the  past  few  years  have 
been  the  improvement  of  rural  communication, 
the  wonderful  development  of  agricultural  edu- 
cation, and  the  fairly  satisfactory  development 
of  organization  among  farmers.  It  seems  also 
apparent  that  there  is  a  fourth  line  of  develop- 
ment that  might  be  mentioned  as  being  signifi- 
cant, and  it  may  be  expressed  in  a  somewhat 
general  statement  that  the  interest  in  agricultural 
questions  has  increased  in  a  very  marked  way. 
There  is  undoubtedly  a  new  emphasis  upon 
country  life  generally.  The  people  of  the  cities 
have  been  going  to  the  country  more  than  ever 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       193 

before.  A  walk,  the  length  of  Beacon  Street  in 
Boston,  at  any  time  from  the  middle  of  June  to 
late  autumn,  convinces  one  that  the  majority 
of  the  people  are  somewhere  in  the  country.  All 
over  the  North,  city  people  are  making  country 
homes  for  at  least  a  portion  of  the  year.  There 
is  also  a  growing  interest  in  the  farm  and  farm 
problems  among  the  general  public.  Just  now 
the  country  schools  are  attracting  special  atten- 
tion from  the  educators — so  much  so  that  the 
late  President  Harper  stated,  not  long  ago,  that 
the  rural-school  question  is  the  coming  question 
in  education.  Even  the  country  church  is  being 
made  a  subject  of  discussion  in  religious  circles. 
It  is  conceded  that  agriculture  presents  "prob- 
lems." And  while  the  throbbing,  busy,  intense 
life  of  the  city  brings  perplexing  questions  to  our 
civilization,  our  people  are  coming  to  realize 
that  the  agricultural  population  and  the  agricul- 
tural industry  are  still  tremendous  factors  in  our 
national  life  and  success,  and  that  both  social  and 
industrial  conditions  in  the  country  are  such 
that  there  also  are  grave  questions  to  be  settled. 
In  view  of  the  facts  which  have  been  given,  I 
think  if  one  were  asked  to  give  a  direct  answer 
to  the  question,  Is  the  farmer  keeping  up  ?  one 
could  reply,  Yes.  In  some  sections  of  the  country, 


194  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

the  farmers  have  not  responded  to  these  forward 
movements.  The  countryman  is  naturally  con- 
servative. Not  only  that,  but  there  are  some 
serious  questions  that  he  has  to  meet  in  his  busi- 
ness and  in  his  life.  He  finds  it  extremely  and 
increasingly  difficult  to  get  adequate  labor.  He 
has  not  been  able  to  take  sufficient  advantage 
of  the  power  of  co-operation.  The  industrial 
and  social  development  of  the  city  has  lured 
away  his  children.  And  yet  one  cannot  help 
feeling  that  these  really  remarkable  advances 
of  the  past  decade  are  prophetic  of  a  steady  im- 
provement in  rural  conditions,  of  a  larger 
development  of  rural  life,  of  a  greater  prosperity 
for  agriculture. 

With  regard  to  the  future,  it  seems  to  me  that, 
on  the  social  side,  the  progress  of  the  next  few 
years  is  to  be  along  the  lines,  indicated  above, 
which  have  characterized  the  past  ten  or  a  dozen 
years.  Still  further  improved  means  of  com- 
munication will  tend  to  banish  isolation  and  its 
drawbacks.  Realization  of  the  benefits  of 
organization  and  ability  to  co-operate  will 
vastly  strengthen  class  power.  The  means  of 
agricultural  education  will  be  developed  very 
rapidly,  with  the  ideal  in  mind  of  being  able  to 
furnish  some  sort  of  agricultural  training  for 


A  SUMMARY  OF  RECENT  PROGRESS       195 

every  individual  who  lives  upon  the  farm.  The 
country  question,  as  a  whole,  will  attract  increas- 
ing attention.  Gradually  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  rural  problem  is  one  of  the  greatest  interest 
to  all  our  citizens.  The  spirit  of  co-operation 
will  grow  until  not  only  the  farmers  themselves 
unite  for  their  own  class  interests  but  the  various 
social  agencies — industrial,  religious,  educational 
— ministering  to  rural  betterment  will  find  them- 
selves also  co-operating.  Thus,  it  seems  to  me, 
the  outlook  for  the  future  is  full  of  hope.  A 
genuine  forward  movement  for  rural  betterment 
has  had  its  beginning,  is  now  gathering  volume, 
and  will  soon  attain  very  large  proportions. 


FORWARD  STEPS 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  SOCIAL  SIDE  OF  THE  FARM  QUESTION 

There  is  a  proverb  in  Grange  circles  which 
expresses  also  the  fundamental  aim  of  all  agri- 
cultural education — "The  farmer  is  of  more 
consequence  than  the  farm  and  should  be  first 
improved."  The  first  term  in  all  agricultural 
prosperity  is  the  man  behind  the  plow.  Im- 
proved agriculture  is  a  matter  of  fertile  brain 
rather  than  of  fertile  field.  Mind  culture  must 
precede  soil  culture. 

But  if  the  improved  man  is  the  first  term  in 
improved  agriculture,  if  he  is  the  effective  cause 
of  rural  progress,  he  is  also  the  last  term  and  the 
choice  product  of  genuine  agricultural  advance- 
ment. We  may  paraphrase  the  sordid,  "raise 
more  corn  to  feed  more  hogs  to  buy  more  land 
to  raise  more  corn,  etc.,"  into  the  divine,  "train 
better  farmers  to  make  better  farming  to  grow 
better  farmers,  etc.''  We  want  trained  men 
that  we  may  have  an  advancing  agricultural  art, 
that  we  may  make  every  agricultural  acre  render 
its  maximum.  The  improved  acre,  however, 
must  yield  not  only  corn  but  civilization,  not 
199 


200  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

only  potatoes  but  culture,  not  only  wheat  but 
effective  manhood. 

But  we  may  carry  the  point  a  step  farther. 
The  individual  farmer  is  the  starting-point  and 
the  end  of  agriculture,  it  is  true.  But  the  lone 
farmer  is  an  anomaly,  either  as  a  cause  or  as  a 
product,  as  the  lone  man  is  everywhere.  As  an 
effective  cause  we  must  have  co-operating  indi- 
viduals, and  as  an  end  we  desire  an  improved 
community  and  a  higher-grade  class  of  farmers. 

The  farm  question  then  is  a  social  question. 
Valuable  as  are  the  contributions  of  science  to 
the  problems  of  soil  and  plant  and  animal,  the 
ultimate  contribution  comes  from  the  develop- 
ment of  improved  men.  So  the  real  end  is  not 
merely  to  utilize  each  acre  to  its  utmost,  nor  to 
provide  cheap  food  for  the  people  who  do  not 
farm,  nor  yet  to  render  agriculture  industrially 
strong.  The  gravest  and  most  far-reaching 
consideration  is  the  social  and  patriotic  one  of 
endeavoring  to  develop  and  maintain  an  agricul- 
tural class  which  represents  the  very  best  type 
of  American  manhood  and  womanhood,  to 
make  the  farm  home  the  ideal  home,  to  bring 
agriculture  to  such  a  state  that  the  business 
will  always  attract  the  keen  and  the  strong 
who  at  the  same  time  care  more  for  home  and 


SOCIAL  SIDE  OF  THE  FARM  QUESTION      201 

children  and  state  and  freedom  than  for  mil- 
lions. In  other  words,  the  maintenance  of  the 
typical  American  farmer — the  man  who  is  es- 
sentially middle  class,  who  is  intelligent,  who 
keeps  a  good  standard  of  living,  educates  his 
children,  serves  his  country,  owns  his  medium- 
sized  farm,  and  who  at  death  leaves  a  modest 
estate — the  maintenance  of  the  typical  American 
farmer  is  the  real  agricultural  problem. 

If  this  analysis  is  a  correct  one,  it  will  vitally 
affect  our  plans  for  agricultural  training.  The 
student  will  be  taught  not  only  soil  physics,  but 
social  psychology.  He  will  learn  not  only  the 
action  of  bacteria  in  milk  fermentation,  but  the 
underlying  causes  of  the  social  ferment  among 
the  farmers  of  the  last  thirty  years.  He  will 
concern  himself  with  the  value  of  farmers'  or- 
ganizations as  well  as  with  the  co-operating 
influences  of  high-bred  corn  and  high-bred  steers. 
The  function  and  organization  of  the  rural  school 
will  be  as  serious  a  problem  to  him  as  the  build- 
ing and  management  of  the  co-operative  cream- 
ery. The  country  church  and  its  career  will 
interest  him  fully  as  much  as  does  the  latest 
successful  device  for  tying  milch  cows  in  the 
stable.  He  will  want  to  get  at  the  kernel  of  the 
political    questions    that    confront    agriculture 


202  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

just  as  fully  and  thoroughly  as  he  wishes  to 
master  the  formulae  for  commercial  fertilizers. 
No  man  will  have  acquired  an  adequate  agri- 
cultural education  who  has  not  been  trained  in 
rural  social  science,  and  who  does  not  recognize 
the  bearing  of  this  wide  field  of  thought  upon  the 
business  of  farming  as  well  as  upon  American 
destiny. 

Research,  too,  will  be  touched  with  the  social 
idea.  The  men  who  study  conditions  existing 
in  rural  communities  which  have  to  do  with  the 
real  life  of  the  people — the  effects  of  their  en- 
vironment, the  tendencies  of  their  habits  and 
customs — will  need  as  thorough  preparation  for 
their  work,  and  the  result  of  their  efforts  will 
be  as  useful  as  that  of  the  men  who  labor  in 
field  and  laboratory. 

But  the  most  profound  consequence  of  recog- 
nizing the  social  side  of  the  farm  question  will 
be  the  new  atmosphere  created  at  the  agricultural 
colleges.  These  institutions  are  fast  gaining 
leadership  in  all  the  technical  questions  of 
agriculture — leadership  gladly  granted  by  pro- 
gressive farmers  whenever  the  institution  is 
managed  with  intelligence  and  in  the  spirit  of 
genuine  sympathy  with  farming.  But  these 
colleges  must   minister  to   the  whole  farmer. 


SOCIAL  SIDE  OF  THE  FARM  QUESTION     203 

They  must  help  the  farmer  solve  all  his  problems, 
whether  these  problems  are  scientific,  or  eco- 
nomic, or  social,  or  political.  And  let  it  be  said 
in  all  earnestness  that  in  our  rapidly  shifting 
industrial  order,  the  farmer's  interest  in  the 
political,  social,  and  economic  problems  of  his 
calling  is  fully  as  great  as  it  is  in  those  purely 
scientific  and  technical.  And  rightly  so.  A 
prime  steer  is  a  triumph.  But  it  will  not  of  it- 
self keep  the  farmer  free.  The  50-bushels-of- 
wheat  acre  is  a  grand  business  proposition  pro- 
vided the  general  industrial  conditions  favor  the 
grower  as  well  as  the  consumer.  When  our 
agricultural  colleges  enter  into  the  fullest  sym- 
pathy with  all  the  rural  problems,  when  the  farm 
home  and  the  rural  school  and  the  country 
church  and  the  farmer's  civic  rights  and  duties 
and  all  the  relations  of  his  business  to  other  in- 
dustries— when  these  questions  are  "in  the  air" 
of  our  agricultural  colleges,  then  and  then  alone 
will  these  colleges  fulfil  their  true  mission  of 
being  all  things  to  all  farmers. 


CHAPTER  XV 
THE  NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE 

One  might  name  a  score  of  important  activi- 
ties that  should  be  encouraged  in  order  to  better 
New  England  agriculture.  But  the  two  funda- 
mental needs  are  (i)  adaptation  and  (2)  co- 
operation. 

By  adaptation  is  meant  such  development  of 
agriculture  as  shall  more  fully  utilize  existing 
physical  and  commercial  conditions.  The  West 
has  for  seventy-five  years  pressed  hard  upon 
New  England  farming.  But  along  with  this 
western  competition  has  come  a  new  opportunity 
for  the  eastern  farmer.  New  England  farmers 
as  a  whole  have  not  quickly  enough  responded 
to  this  new  opportunity.  Many  of  their  troubles 
may  be  traced  to  the  failure  to  adapt  themselves 
to  the  new  conditions.  The  men  in  New 
England  who  have  met  the  new  opportunity  are 
succeeding. 

What  does  this  adaptation  consist  in?    It 

means,  first,  the  adaptation  of  the  New  England 

farmer  to  his  markets.     In  most  parts  of  the 

country  the  type  of  farming  is  perhaps  more 

204 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE   205 

dependent  upon  physical  conditions  of  soil  and 
climate  than  upon  the  immediate  market.  In 
New  England  the  reverse  is  now  true,  and  the 
type  of  New  England  farming  must  be  adapted, 
absolutely  and  completely,  to  the  demands  of  its 
market.  New  England  farmers  have  the  most 
superb  markets  in  the  country.  Of  the  six 
million  people  in  New  England,  approximately 
75  per  cent,  live  in  the  cities  and  villages.  There 
are,  in  New  England,  thirty  cities  having  a 
population  of  twenty-five  thousand  or  more. 
The  great  majority  of  these  cities  are  manufac- 
turing cities  peopled  by  the  best  class  of  consum- 
ers in  the  world — the  American  skilled  artisan. 
They  constitute  a  nearby  market  that  demands 
fresh  products  which  cannot  be  transported 
across  a  continent.  New  England  is  also  espe- 
cially favored  in  its  nearness  to  the  European 
market.  The  New  England  farmer  then  must 
adapt  his  crops,  his  methods,  and  his  style  of 
farming  to  his  peculiar  market. 

In  the  second  place,  this  adaptation  must  be 
one  of  soil,  just  as  anywhere  else,  only  the  prob- 
lem here  becomes  more  complicated  because  of 
the  varied  character  of  the  farming  lands.  How 
to  make  the  valleys  and  the  hills,  the  rocky 
ridges  and   the  sand   plains  of  New  England 


206  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

yield  their  largest  possibilities  in  agriculture  is 
a  problem  of  the  greatest  scientific  and  industrial 
interest,  and  it  is  the  problem  that  New  England 
agriculture  has  to  face.  In  this  connection 
comes  also  the  need  of  special  varieties  adapted 
not  only  to  the  market  but  to  the  soil  and  climate. 

This  principle  of  adaptation  is  the  industrial 
key  to  future  agricultural  development  in  New 
England.  But  to  achieve  this  adaptation,  to 
make  the  key  work,  there  is  needed  the  force 
of  social  organization.  The  farmer  must  be 
reached  before  the  farm  can  be  improved.  The 
man  who  treads  the  furrow  is  a  greater  factor 
than  nitrogen  or  potash.  How  is  this  man  to 
be  reached,  inspired,  instructed?  Largely  by 
some  form  of  organization.  The  second  and 
greater  need  therefore  is  co-operation. 

Co-operation  means  faith  in  agriculture — 
a  faith  too  seldom  found  in  the  Israel  of 
New  England's  yeomanry.  Co-operation  means 
ideals — ideals  of  rural  possibilities  too  seldom 
dreamed  of  in  the  philosophy  of  the  Yankee 
farmer.  Co-operation  means  power — power  that 
cannot  be  acquired  by  the  lone  man,  not  even 
by  the  resolute  individualism  so  dominant  in 
New  England  character. 

There  are  three  forms  of  co-operation,  all  of 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE   207 

which  are  desirable  and  even  essential  if  the 
most  rapid  agricultural  progress  in  New  Eng- 
land is  to  be  secured — co-operation  among 
individuals,  among  organizations,  among  states. 

The  farmers  of  New  England  must  work 
together.  The  Grange  is  stronger  in  New 
England  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  country 
of  similar  area — yet  not  one  farmer  in  ten  be- 
longs to  the  Grange.  We  need  not  dwell  on 
this  point,  for  it  is  a  truth  constantly  preached 
through  the  Grange  and  through  other  means. 
Let  me  suggest  two  ideas  relative  to  co-operation 
which  have  not  received  so  much  attention. 

Each  organization  has  its  peculiar  work. 
The  school  is  to  train  the  young,  the  agricultural 
college  to  prepare  the  youth,  the  farmers'  insti- 
tute to  instruct  and  inspire  the  middle-aged  and 
mature.  The  experiment  station  seeks  to  dis- 
cover the  means  by  which  nature  and  man  may 
better  work  together.  The  producers'  unions 
endeavor  to  secure  a  fair  price  for  their  goods. 
The  Grange  enlarges  the  views  of  its  members 
and  brings  the  power  which  comes  from  working 
together,  buying  together,  meeting  together, 
talking  together,  acting  together.  Boards  of 
agriculture  control  conditions  of  health  and 
disease  among  animals  and  plants.     The  coun- 


208  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

try  fair  educates  and  interests.  The  church 
crowns  all  in  its  ministrations  of  spiritual  vision, 
moral  uplift,  and  insistence  upon  character  as 
the  supreme  end  of  life. 

But  no  institution  can  do  the  work  of  the 
others.  They  are  members  one  of  another. 
The  hand  cannot  say  to  the  foot,  I  have  no  need 
of  thee.  All  these  things  make  for  rural  progress. 
None  can  be  spared.  The  Grange  cannot  take 
the  place  of  the  church.  The  institute  cannot 
supplant  the  Grange.  The  college  course  can- 
not reach  the  adult  farmer.  The  experiment 
station  cannot  instruct  the  young.  The  church 
cannot  secure  reforms  in  taxation. 

These  agencies  may  however  co-operate. 
Indeed  the  most  rapid  and  most  secure  rural 
progress,  the  broadest  and  soundest  agricultural 
growth,  can  not  take  place  unless  there  be  this 
form  of  co-operation.  There  will  come  added 
interest,  increased  efficiency,  larger  views,  greater 
ambitions  in  our  agricultural  development,  if, 
in  each  state,  all  of  these  forces  work  together. 

We  may  therefore  welcome  most  cordially 
the  proposed  plan  of  federating  the  various 
agricultural  societies  of  each  state  into  one 
grand  committee  organized  for  the  purpose  of 
forwarding  all  the  agricultural  interests  of  that 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE   209 

state.  Let  there  be,  moreover,  a  "League  for 
Rural  Progress,"  in  each  state  or,  at  least,  an 
annual  conference  on  rural  progress,  in  each 
state,  in  which  the  representatives  of  the 
farmers'  societies,  of  the  schools,  of  the  churches, 
and  indeed  all  other  people  who  have  the  slightest 
interest  in  rural  advancement  may  meet  to 
discuss  plans  and  methods  which  shall  better 
agriculture  and  the  farmer. 

But  this  is  not  enough.  There  ought  to  be 
co-operation  among  these  various  social  institu- 
tions without  respect  to  state  lines.  The  farm 
problem  in  New  England  is  one  problem,  al- 
though differing  in  details,  it  is  true,  in  different 
states.  Co-operation  should  not  stop  with  the 
federating  of  the  organizations  of  a  state.  There 
is  no  reason,  for  instance,  why  the  agricultural 
colleges  and  experiment  stations  of  New  England 
should  not  co-operate.  It  is  not  practicable  to 
prevent  all  duplication  of  work.  I  do  suggest 
the  desirability  and  the  feasibility  of  genuine 
co-operation. 

Why  should  not  those  in  charge  of  the  rural 
schools  of  all  New  England  meet  together  and 
discuss  the  difficulties  and  achievements  as  they 
exist  in  different  states  ?  Why  not  have  a  "New 
England  Society  for  Agricultural  Education," 


2io  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

in  which  all  organizations  and  all  individuals 
who  are  interested  in  any  phase  of  this  subject 
may  meet  for  discussing  New  England  problems  ? 
Could  not  boards  of  agriculture  co-operate  to 
some  extent,  especially  in  farmers'  institute  work 
with  general  plans  and  ideas?  Certainly  con- 
ferences between  these  boards  ought  to  yield 
most  valuable  results.  Is  the  idea  of  a  genuine 
New  England  fair  a  mere  dream  ? 

Cannot  the  Granges  of  New  England  profit- 
ably co-operate  more  fully  ?  It  is  true  that  there 
is  considerable  intervisitation,  and  yet  the  rank 
and  file  of  members  in  one  state  know  compara- 
tively little  of  the  progress  and  methods  of  the 
Grange  in  an  adjoining  state;  this  knowledge 
is  confined  to  a  few  leaders.  Would  it  not  be 
worth  while  to  attempt  an  occasional  New  Eng- 
land assemblage  of  Grange  members,  a  repre- 
sentative gathering  for  discussing  Grange  work 
and  for  enthusing  the  Grange  people  of  New 
England  with  the  possibilities  of  still  further 
Grange  development  ? 

The  idea  of  New  England  as  a  unit  of  interest 
in  church  matters  is  already  exemplified  by  the 
appointment  of  a  New  England  secretary  of  the 
federation  of  churches.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
expect  that,  in  the  near  future,  all  the  means 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE   211 

for  church  federation  in  New  England  shall 
work  together,  because  it  is  evident  that  co- 
operation and  unity  are  demanded  by  the  nature 
of  the  field. 

And  finally,  is  it  idle  to  think  that  there  might 
be  a  New  England  League  for  Rural  Progress  or, 
at  least,  a  New  England  Conference  on  Rural 
Progress,  which  shall  bring  from  every  corner 
of  New  England  representatives  of  the  agricul- 
tural colleges,  of  the  Granges,  of  the  country 
church,  of  the  rural  school,  of  the  country  press, 
and  all  other  individuals  who  believe  in  the 
possibilities  of  New  England  agriculture,  and  in 
the  efficiency  of  the  fullest  and  freest  co-opera- 
tion? 

There  are  several  powerful  reasons  why  an 
attempt  to  better  New  England  agriculture  will 
be  greatly  aided  by  co-operation  that  includes 
every  inch  of  New  England  soil  from  Boston 
harbor  to  the  Berkshires,  and  from  Mt.  Katah- 
din  to  Point  Judith. 

(1)  The  importance  of  New  England  agricul- 
ture. In  the  appended  table  is  attempted  a  com- 
parison between  New  England  as  a  unit,  the  state 
'  of  Michigan  representing  an  average  agricultural 
state,  and  the  state  of  Iowa  representing  the 
foremost  agricultural  state.    The  figures,  taken 


212  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

from  the  Census  of  1900,  are  given  in  round 
numbers.  Such  a  table  is  not  conclusive  as  to 
agricultural  conditions.  But  it  is  very  sugges- 
tive as  to  the  importance  of  New  England 
agriculture  both  industrially  and  socially.  It 
will  be  seen  that,  with  an  area  only  a  little  larger 
than  Michigan,  New  England  compares  in  every 
respect  favorably  with  that  average  state  and, 
in  some  respects,  excels  it,  while  it  excels  both 
Michigan  and  Iowa  by  65  per  cent,  in  gross 
value  of  product  per  acre  of  improved  land. 

(2)  Agricultural  conditions  all  over  New  Eng- 
land are  quite  similar.  Speaking  broadly,  the  soil 
and  climate  of  one  state  are  the  soil  and  climate 
of  another.  The  people  are  of  the  same  stock, 
the  same  views,  the  same  habits,  the  same  tradi- 
tions. The  demand  of  the  market  is  fairly 
uniform  for  different  sections.  The  New  Eng- 
land city  is  the  New  Englander's  special  pos- 
session as  a  market.  Farm  labor  conditions 
are  much  the  same.  In  fact,  there  is  hardly  a 
portion  of  our  country,  of  the  same  area,  which 
in  all  these  respects  yields  itself  more  completely 
to  the  idea  of  unity. 

(3)  The  hopefulness  of  the  farm  problem. 
Nearly  four  millions  of  city  people  live  in  New 
England.    They  must  be  fed.    The  nearness  of 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE    213 

the  market  means  high-class  products.  This 
means  intensive  agriculture.  Intensive  agricul- 
ture means  education  and  intelligence.  The 
cities  are  growing.  Their  power  of  consumption 
is  steadily  and  rapidly  increasing. 

(4)  The  unusual  social  equipment.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  in  an  area  but  little  larger 
than  Iowa,  which  has  one  agricultural  college 
and  one  agricultural  experiment  station  and  no 
Granges  to  speak  of,  New  England  has,  in  com- 
parison, six  agricultural  colleges,  six  experiment 
stations,  six  boards  of  agriculture,  over  a  thou- 
sand Granges,  and  numerous  agricultural  socie- 
ties. The  means  of  agricultural  education  in 
New  England  are  more  numerous  and  may  be 
more  efficient  than  in  any  other  portion  of  this 
country  of  similar  area.  Moreover,  the  cities 
are  now  in  a  position  to  help  solve  the  problem 
in  New  England.  They  have  leaders.  There 
are  in  them  men  with  leisure  and  talent  who  are 
interested  in  this  problem  and  who  are  willing 
to  help  solve  it. 

(5)  The  sentimental  side.  A  campaign  for 
rural  progress,  with  New  England  as  the  unit, 
ought  to  arouse  the  pride  and  enthusiasm  of  all 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  New  England  who  still 
have  the  privilege  of  living  within  her  borders, 


214 


CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 


as  well  as  the  interest  and  sympathy  of  all  her 
grandsons  who,  though  living  under  western 
skies,  still  cherish  in  their  hearts  the  deepest 
affection  for  their  Fatherland.  Shall  not  the 
idea  of  uniting  all  the  forces  of  agricultural 
betterment  that  exist  in  New  England  be  a 
stimulus  to  every  farmer  in  the  six  states,  and, 
indeed,  attract  the  sympathy  and  practical  aid 
of  every  lover  of  New  England  soil  ? 

Adaptation,  co-operation:  these  are  the  pri- 
mary needs  of  New  England  agriculture;  an 
adaptation  of  the  farmer  and  his  farm  to  exist- 
ing   conditions,    a    co-operation    that    unites 


New  England 


Michigan 


Iowa 


Total     land     area- 
square  miles 

Number  of  farms  . . 

Acreage  in  farms. . . 

Acres    of    improved 
land , 

Value  of  farms , 

Value  of  farm  prod- 
ucts   

Persons  engaged  in 
agriculture , 

Rural  population  . . , 

Value  of  products  per 
acre  of  improved 
land 

Number  of  Granges 

Number  of  Grange 
members 


so, 

8, 
$640, 


62,000 
192,000 
500,000 

135,000 
000,000 


$170,000,000 

290,000 
1,500,000 


$20 
1,200 

120,000 


57.  5°° 

203,000 

17,500,000 

11,800,000 
390,000,000 

$147,000,000 

312,000 
1,200,000 


$12 
725 

45,000 


5S.S°o 

229,000 

34,600,000 

29,900,000 
h,  835,000,000 

$365,000,00 

372,000 
1,260,000 


$12 


NEEDS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  AGRICULTURE    215 

individual  farmers  into  various  associated  efforts, 
that  federates  the  work  and  influence  of  the 
different  social  agencies  within  the  state,  and 
that  ultimately  secures  the  unity  of  all  New 
England  in  a  great  movement  for  rural  advance- 
ment. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  AMERICAN  EDUCA- 
TION 

Agricultural  education  in  this  country  has 
thus  far  been  an  attempt  to  apply  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  the  so-called  "natural"  sciences 
to  the  practical  operations  of  the  farm.  Com- 
paratively little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  the  "social" 
sciences  to  the  life  of  the  farmer.  All  this  is 
partly  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  natural 
sciences  were  fairly  well  developed  when  the 
needs  of  the  farmer  called  the  scientist  to  work 
with  and  for  the  man  behind  the  plow,  when  a 
vanishing  soil  fertility  summoned  the  chemist  to 
the  service  of  the  grain  grower,  when  the  improve- 
ment of  breeds  of  stock  and  races  of  plants  began 
to  appeal  to  the  biologist.  Moreover,  these 
practical  applications  of  the  physical  and  bio- 
logical sciences  are,  and  always  will  be,  a  funda- 
mental necessity  in  the  agricultural  question. 

But  in  the  farm  problem  we  cannot  afford  to 
ignore  the  economic  and  sociological  phases. 
While  it  may  be  true  that  the  practical  success 

3l6 


AN  UNTELLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      217 

of  the  individual  farmer  depends  largely  upon 
his  business  sense  and  his  technical  education, 
it  is  folly  to  hope  that  the  success  of  agriculture 
as  an  industry  and  the  influence  of  farmers  as  a 
class  can  be  based  solely  upon  the  ability  of  each 
farmer  to  raise  a  big  crop  and  to  sell  it  to  ad- 
vantage. General  intelligence,  appreciation  of 
the  trend  of  economic  and  social  forces,  capacity 
to  co-operate,  ability  to  voice  his  needs  and  his 
rights,  are  just  as  vital  acquirements  for  the 
farmer  as  knowing  how  to  make  two  blades  of 
grass  grow  where  but  one  grew  before.  It 
finally  comes  to  this,  that  the  American  farmer 
is  obliged  to  study  the  questions  that  confront 
him  as  a  member  of  the  industrial  order  and  as  a 
factor  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  nation, 
with  as  much  zeal  and  understanding  as  he  is 
expected  to  show  in  the  study  of  those  natural 
laws  governing  the  soil  and  the  crops  and  the 
animals  that  he  owns. 

In  this  connection  it  is  significant  to  note  that 
farmers  themselves  are  already  quite  as  interested 
in  the  social  problems  of  their  particular  calling 
and  in  the  general  economic  and  political  ques- 
tions of  the  day,  as  they  are  in  science  applied 
to  their  business  of  tilling  the  soil.  Not  neces- 
sarily that  they  minimize  the  latter,  but  they 


218  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

seem  instinctively  to  recognize  that  social  forces 
may  work  them  ill  or  work  them  good  according 
to  the  direction  and  power  of  those  forces.  This 
statement  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  aims, 
purposes,  labors,  and  discussions  of  the  great 
farmers'  organizations  like  the  Grange  are  social 
in  character,  having  to  do  with  questions  that 
are  political,  economic,  sociological. 

When,  however,  we  turn  to  those  public 
educational  agencies  that  are  intended  to  assist 
in  the  solution  of  the  farm  problem,  we  discover 
that  they  are  giving  slight  attention  to  the  social 
side  of  the  question.  An  examination  of  the 
catalogues  of  the  agricultural  colleges,  whether 
separate  institutions  or  colleges  of  state  univer- 
sities, reveals  the  fact  that,  beyond  elementary 
work  in  economics,  in  civics,  and  occasionally 
in  sociology,  little  opportunity  is  given  students 
to  study  the  farm  question  from  its  social  stand- 
point. With  a  few  exceptions,  these  institutions 
offer  no  courses  whatever  in  rural  social  prob- 
lems, and  even  in  these  exceptional  cases  the 
work  offered  is  hardly  commensurate  with  the 
importance  of  the  subject.  Nearly  all  our  other 
colleges  and  universities  are  subject  to  the  same 
comment.  The  average  student  of  problems  in 
economics  and  sociology  and  education  gains  on 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      219 

conception  whatever  of  the  importance  and 
character  of  the  rural  phases  of  our  industrial 
and  social  life. 

It  may  be  urged  in  explanation  of  this  state 
of  affairs  that  the  liberal  study  of  the  social 
sciences  in  our  colleges  and  universities  and 
especially  any  large  attention  to  the  practical 
problems  of  economics  and  sociology,  is  a 
comparatively  recent  thing.  This  is  true  and 
is  a  good  excuse.  But  it  does  not  offer  a  reason 
why  the  social  phases  of  agriculture  should  be 
longer  neglected.  The  purpose  of  this  article 
is  less  to  criticize  than  to  describe  a  situation  and 
to  urge  the  timeliness  of  the  large  development, 
in  the  near  future,  of  rural  social  science. 

At  the  outset  the  queries  may  arise,  What  is 
meant  by  rural  social  science  ?  and,  What  is 
there  to  be  investigated  and  taught  under  such 
a  head?  The  answer  to  the  first  query  has 
already  been  intimated.  Rural  social  science  is 
the  application  of  the  principles  of  the  social 
sciences,  especially  of  economics  and  sociology, 
to  the  problems  that  confront  the  American 
farmer.  As  a  reply  to  the  second  query  there 
are  appended  at  the  end  of  this  chapter  outlines 
of  possible  courses  in  agricultural  economics  and 
rural  sociology,  which  were  prepared  by  the 


220  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

writer  for  the  exhibit  in  "rural  economy"  at 
the  St.  Louis  exposition.  There  are  also  sub- 
jects that  have  a  political  bearing,  such  as  local 
government  in  the  country,  and  primary  reform 
in  rural  communities,  which  perhaps  ought  not 
to  be  omitted.  So,  too,  various  phases  of  home 
life  and  of  art  might  be  touched  upon.  The 
subjects  suggested  and  others  like  them  could 
be  conveniently  grouped  into  from  two  to  a  dozen 
courses,  as  circumstances  might  require. 

What  classes  of  people  may  be  expected  to 
welcome  and  profit  by  instruction  of  this  charac- 
ter? (i)  The  farmers  themselves.  Assuming 
that  our  agricultural  colleges  are  designed, 
among  other  functions,  to  train  men  and 
women  to  become  influential  farmers,  no  argu- 
ment is  necessary  to  show  how  studies  in  rural 
social  science  may  help  qualify  these  students 
for  genuine  leadership  of  their  class  of  toilers. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  remarked  that  no 
subjects  will  better  lend  themselves  to  college 
extension  work  than  those  named  above.  Lec- 
tures and  lecture  courses  for  granges,  farmers' 
clubs,  farmers'  institutes,  etc.,  on  such  themes 
would  arouse  the  greatest  interest.  Corre- 
spondence and  home  study  courses  along  these 
lines  would  be  fully  as  popular  as  those  treating 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      221 

of  soils  and  crops.  (2)  Agricultural  educators. 
The  soil  physicist  or  the  agricultural  chemist 
will  not  be  a  less  valuable  specialist  in  his  own 
line,  and  he  certainly  will  be  a  more  useful 
member  of  the  faculty  of  an  agricultural  college, 
if  he  has  an  appreciative  knowledge  of  the  farm- 
er's social  and  economic  status.  This  is  even 
more  true  of  men  called  to  administer  agricul- 
tural education  in  any  of  its  phases.  (3)  Rural 
school  administrators  and  the  more  progressive 
rural  teachers.  The  country  school  can  never 
become  truly  a  social  and  intellectual  center  of 
the  community  until  the  rural  educators  under- 
stand the  social  environment  of  the  farmer. 
(4)  Country  clergymen.  The  vision  of  a  social- 
service  church  in  the  country  will  remain  but  a 
dream  unless,  added  to  the  possession  of  a  heart 
for  such  work,  the  clergyman  knows  the  farm 
problem  sufficiently  to  appreciate  the  broader 
phases  of  the  industrial  and  social  life  of  his 
people.  (5)  Editors  of  farm  papers,  and  of  the 
so-called  "country"  papers.  Probably  the  edi- 
tors of  the  better  class  of  agricultural  papers  are 
less  in  need  of  instruction  such  as  that  suggested 
than  is  almost  anyone  else.  Yet  the  same  argu- 
ments that  now  lead  many  young  men  aspiring 
to  this  class  of  journalism  to  regard  a  course  in 


222  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

scientific  agriculture  as  a  vestibule  to  their  work 
may  well  be  used  in  urging  a  study  of  rural  social 
science,  especially  at  a  time  when  social  and 
economic  problems  are  pressing  upon  the  farmer. 
As  for  the  country  papers,  the  work  of  purveying 
local  gossip  and  stirring  the  party  kettle  too  often 
obscures  the  tremendous  possibilities  for  a  high- 
class  service  to  the  rural  community  which  such 
papers  may  render.  No  men,  in  the  agricultural 
states  at  least,  have  more  real  influence  in  their 
community  than  the  trained,  clean,  manly, 
country  editors — and  there  is  a  multitude  of 
such  men.  If  as  a  class  they  possessed  also  a 
wider  appreciation  of  the  farmer's  industrial 
difficulties  and  needs,  hardly  anyone  could  give 
better  service  to  the  solution  of  the  farm  problem 
than  could  they.  (6)  Everybody  else!  That  is 
to  say,  the  agricultural  question  is  big  enough 
and  important  enough  to  be  understood  by 
educated  people.  The  farmers  are  half  our 
people.  Farming  is  our  largest  single  indus- 
trial interest.  The  capital  invested  in  agri- 
culture is  four-fifths  the  capital  invested  in 
manufacturing  and  railway  transportation  com- 
bined. Whether  an  individual  has  a  special 
interest  in  business,  in  economics,  in  education, 
or  in  religious  institutions,  he  ought  to  know  the 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      223 

place  of  the  farm  and  the  farmer  in  that  question. 
No  one  can  have  a  full  appreciation  of  the  social 
and  industrial  life  of  the  American  people  who 
is  ignorant  of  the  agricultural  status. 

The  natural  place  to  begin  work  in  rural  social 
science  is  the  agricultural  college.  Future  farm- 
ers and  teachers  of  farmers  are  supposed  to 
be  there.  The  subjects  embraced  are  as  im- 
portant in  solving  the  farm  problem  as  are 
biology,  physics,  or  chemistry.  No  skilled  farm- 
er or  leader  of  farmers  should  be  without  some 
reasonably  correct  notions  of  the  principles  that 
determine  the  position  of  agriculture  in  the 
industrial  world.  A  brief  study  of  the  elements 
of  political  economy,  of  sociology,  of  civics,  is  not 
enough;  no  more  than  the  study  of  the  elements 
of  botany,  of  chemistry  and  of  zoology  is  enough. 
The  specific  problems  of  the  farmer  that  are 
economic  need  elucidation  alongside  the  study 
of  soils  and  crops,  of  plant-  and  stock-breeding. 
And  these  economic  topics  should  be  thoroughly 
treated  by  men  trained  in  social  science,  and 
not  incidentally  by  men  whose  chief  interest  is 
technical  agriculture. 

The  normal  schools  may  well  discuss  the 
propriety  of  adding  one  or  two  courses  which 
bear  on  the  social  and  economic  situation  of  the 


224  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

rural  classes.  While  these  schools  do  not  now 
send  out  many  teachers  into  rural  schools,  they 
may  do  so  under  the  system  of  centralized 
schools;  and  in  any  event  they  furnish  rural 
school  administrators,  as  well  as  instructors  of 
rural  teachers.  There  seems  to  be  a  growing 
sentiment  which  demands  of  the  school  and  of 
the  teacher  a  closer  touch  with  life  as  it  is  actually 
lived.  How  can  rural  teachers  learn  to  appre- 
ciate the  social  function  of  the  rural  school, 
except  they  be  taught  ? 

Nor  is  there  any  reason  why  the  theological 
seminaries,  or  at  least  the  institutions  that  pre- 
pare the  men  who  become  country  clergymen, 
should  not  cover  some  of  the  subjects  suggested. 
If  the  ambition  of  some  people  to  see  the  country 
church  a  social  and  intellectual  center  is  to  be 
realized,  the  minister  must  know  the  rural  prob- 
lem broadly.  The  same  arguments  that  impel 
the  city  pastor  to  become  somewhat  familiar 
with  the  economic,  social,  and  civic  questions  of 
the  day  hold  with  equal  force  when  applied  to 
the  necessary  preparation  for  the  rural  ministry. 

The  universities  may  be  called  upon  to  train 
teachers  and  investigators  in  rural  social  science 
for  service  in  agricultural  colleges,  normal 
schools,  and  theological  seminaries.     Moreover, 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      225 

there  is  no  good  reason  why  any  college  or  uni- 
versity graduate  should  not  know  more  than  he 
does  about  the  farm  problem.  There  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  interest  in  the  farm  question 
is  very  rapidly  growing,  and  that  the  universities 
will  be  but  meeting  a  demand  if  they  begin  very 
soon  to  offer  courses  in  rural  social  science. 

The  arguments  for  rural  social  science  rest, 
let  us  observe,  not  only  upon  its  direct  aid  to 
the  farmers  themselves,  but  upon  its  value 
as  a  basis  for  that  intelligent  social  service  which 
preacher,  teacher,  and  editor  may  render  the 
farming  class.  It  is  an  essential  underlying 
condition  for  the  successful  federation  of  rural 
social  forces.  Indeed  it  should  in  some  degree 
be  a  part  of  the  equipment  of  every  educated 
person. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  add,  in  conclu- 
sion, that  instruction  in  rural  social  problems 
should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  men  who  are 
thoroughly  trained  in  social  science  as  well  as 
accurate,  experienced,  and  sympathetic  observ- 
ers of  rural  conditions.  It  would  be  mischievous 
indeed  if  in  the  desire  to  be  progressive  any 
educational  institution  should  offer  courses  in 
rural  social  science  which  gave  superficial  or 
erroneous  ideas  about  the  scientific  principles 


226  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

involved,  or  which  encouraged  in  any  degree 
whatever  the  notion  that  the  farmer's  business 
and  welfare  are  not  vitally  and  forever  bound 
up  with  the  business  and  welfare  of  all  other 
classes. 

OUTLINE  FOR  A  BRIEF  COURSE  IN  AGRICUL- 
TURAL ECONOMICS 

I.  Characteristics  of  the  Agricultural  Industry. 
Dependence  upon  nature. 
Capital  and  labor  as  applied  to  agriculture. 
The  laws  of  rent  and  of  decreasing  returns  in  agri- 
culture. 

Relation  of  agriculture  to  other  industries  and  to 
the  welfare  of  mankind. 
II.  History  of  the  Agricultural  Industry. 
In  ancient  times. 

Status  in  Europe  prior  to  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  struggle  to  maintain  its  standing  after  the 
advent  of  commerce  and  manufacture. 
In  the  United  States. 

The  pioneer  stage. 

Development  of  commercial  agriculture. 

The  new  farming. 
III.  Present  Status  of  the  Farming  Industry. 
The  world's  food  supply. 
Agricultural  resources  of  the  United  States. 

Geographical  factors. 

Soils,  climate,  fertility,  natural  enemies,  etc. 
Statistics  of  farms,  farm  wealth,  production,  etc 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      227 

Leading  sub-industries,  cereals,  stock,  etc. 
Distribution  of  production. 

IV.  The  Agricultural  Market. 

Description  of  the  market — local,  domestic,  foreign. 

Mechanism  of  the  market. 

Banks  and  local  exchange  facilities. 

Middlemen. 

Boards  of  trade. 

Prices  of  agricultural  products. 
Movements  of  prices. 
Agricultural  competition. 
Depressions  of  agriculture. 
Influence  of   "options." 

Transportation  of  agricultural  products. 

Primary  transportation — wagon  roads  and  trol- 
ley lines. 

Railroad  and  water  transportation. 
Facilities. 
Rates. 

Discriminations. 
Delivery  methods. 
Incidents  of  the  transportation  system — eleva- 
tors, etc. 
Imperfect  distribution  of  agricultural  products. 

Development  of  the  market. 

Increase  of  consumption  of  products — manu- 
facture of  farm  products  as  a  factor. 
The  factor  of  choicer  products. 
The  factor  of  better  distribution  of  products. 
The  local  market  as  a  factor. 
The  foreign  market  as  a  factor. 


228  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

V.  Business  Co-operation  in  Agriculture. 
Historical  sketch. 
Present  status. 

Production. 

Marketing. 

Buying. 

Miscellaneous  business  co-operation. 
Difficulties  and  tendencies. 

VI.  Agriculture  and  Legislation. 

Land  laws  and  land  policies  of  the  United  States. 
Agriculture  and  the  tariff. 
Taxation  and  agriculture. 
Food  and  dairy  laws. 
Government  aid  to  agriculture. 

VII.  General  Problems. 
Agricultural  labor. 
Machinery  and  agriculture. 
Interest  rates,  indebtedness,  etc. 
Tenant  farming. 
Large  vs.  small  farming. 
Business  methods. 
Immigration  and  agriculture. 


OUTLINE  FOR  A  BRIEF  COURSE  IN  RURAL 
SOCIOLOGY 

INTRODUCTION 

i.    Definitions. 

2.   Relation  of  the  sociological  to  the  economic,  the  tech- 
nical, and  the  scientific  phases  of  agriculture. 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      229 
Parti 

THE  RURAL   SOCIAL  STATUS 

Chapter  I 

Movements  of  the  Farm  Population 

1.  Statistical  survey. 

2.  The  movement  to  the  West. 

History,  causes. 

3.  The  movement  to  the  cities. 

a)  Growth  of  cities. 

b)  Depletion  of  rural  population  in  certain  localities. 

4.  Causes  of  the  movement  to  the  cities. 

a)  Industrial,  social,  and  psychological  causes. 

5.  Results  of  the  movements  of  the  farm  population. 

a)  Results  both  good  and  bad. 

b)  Re'sume'  of  industrial  and  social  results. 

Chapter  II 

Social  Condition  of  the  Rural  Population 

Nativity;  color;  illiteracy;  families;  health;  temperance; 

crime;    morality;    pauperism;    defectives;    insanity; 

etc. 

Chapter  III 

The  Social  Psychology  of  Rural  Life 

1.  Isolation  and  its  results. 

2.  The  farm  home  and  its  environment. 

3.  Traits  of  family  life. 

4.  Traits  of  individual  life. 

Chapter  IV 
The  Social  Aspect  of  Current  Agricultural  Questions 

1.  Tenant  farming. 

2.  Large  vs.  small  farms. 


230  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

3.  Farm  labor. 

4.  Irregular  incomes. 

5.  Farm  machinery. 

6.  Specialization  in  farming. 

7.  Immigration.  . 

Part  II 

SOCIAL   FACTORS   IN   RURAL  PROGRESS 

Chapter  I 

Means  of  Communication  in  Rural  Districts 

1.  Importance  and  status  of  rural  communication. 

2.  The  new  movements  for  better  rural  communication. 

a)  Highways. 

b)  Rural  free  mail  delivery. 

c)  Rural  telephone. 

d)  Interurban  electric  railways. 

Chapter  II 
Farmers'  Organizations 

1.  Value  of. 

2.  Difficulties  in  organizing. 

3.  Forms  that  organizations  may  take. 

4.  History  and  work  of  farmers'  organizations  in  the 
United  States. 

5.  General  deductions  from  study  of  farmers'  organiza- 
tions. 

Chapter  III 
Rural  Education 

1.  Distinction  between  rural  and  agricultural  education. 

2.  The  country  school. 


AN  UNTILLED  FIELD  IN  EDUCATION      231 

a)  Its  importance,  organization,  maintenance,  instruc- 
tion, and  supervision. 

b)  The  rural  school  as  a  social  center. 

c)  The  township  unit,  the  consolidated  school,  the 
centralized  school. 

3.  High-school  privileges  for  rural  pupils. 

4.  The  rural  library. 

5.  Other  agencies  for  rural  education. 

Chapter  IV 
Means  of  Agricultural  Education 

1.  Historical. 

2.  Research  in  agriculture. 

3.  Agricultural  instruction  to  resident  students, 
c)  Higher  education  in  agriculture. 

b)  Secondary  education  in  agriculture. 

c)  Primary  education  in  agriculture. 

4.  Extension  teaching  in  agriculture. 

5.  Miscellaneous  agencies  for  agricultural  education. 

a)  Farmers'  societies. 

b)  The  farm  press. 

c)  The  county  paper. 

d)  Industrial  departments  of  steam  railways. 

Chapter  V 
The  Rural  Church 

1.  Present  status. 

z.  Difficulties  in  country  church  work, 

j.  The  awakening  in  the  rural  church. 

\.  The  institutional  rural  church. 

j.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  country. 


232  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

6.  The  rural  Sunday  school. 

7.  The  rural  social  settlement. 

Chapter  VI 
The  Social  Ideal  for  Agriculture 

1.  The  importance  of  social  agencies. 

2.  The  preservation  of  the  "American  farmer"  essential 

3.  Relation  of  this  ideal  to  our  American  civilization. 

4.  The   federation    or    co-operation   of    rural   social 
agencies. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS 

It  is  almost  trite  to  assert  the  need  of  the 
"socialization" — to  use  a  much-worked  phrase 
— of  the  country.  It  is  possible  that  this  need 
is  not  greater  than  in  the  cities,  but  it  is  different. 
Among  no  class  of  people  is  individualism  so 
rampant  as  among  farmers.  For  more  than  a 
century  the  American  farmer  led  the  freest 
possible  social  life.  His  independence  was 
his  glory.  But,  when  the  day  of  co-operation 
dawned,  he  found  himself  out  of  tune  with  the 
movement,  was  disinclined  to  join  the  ranks  of 
organized  effort,  and  he  prefers  even  yet  his  per- 
sonal and  local  independence  to  the  truer 
freedom  which  can  be  secured  only  through  co- 
operative endeavor.  Moreover,  the  social  aspect 
of  the  rural  problem  is  important  not  merely 
because  the  farmer  is  slow  to  co-operate.  The 
farm  problem  is  to  be  met  by  the  activities  of 
social  institutions. 

We  may  say  (assuming  the  home  life,  of  course) 
that  the  church,  the  school,  and  the  farmers'  or- 
ganization are  the  great  rural  social  institutions. 

*33 


234  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

They  are  the  forces  now  most  efficient,  and  the 
ones  that  promise  to  abide.  This  classification 
may  appear  to  be  a  mere. truism,  when  we  sug- 
gest that  under  the  church  should  be  placed  all 
those  movements  that  have  a  distinctively 
religious  motive,  under  the  school  all  those 
agencies  that  are  primarily  educational  in  de- 
sign, and  under  farmers'  organizations  those 
associations  whose  chief  function  is  to  settle 
questions  which  concern  the  farmer  as  a  business 
man  and  a  citizen.  But  the  classification 
answers  fairly  well.  It  includes  practically 
every  device  that  has  been  suggested  for  rural 
betterment. 

There  are  two  interesting  facts  about  these 
rural  institutions:  (i)  None  of  them  is  doing  a 
tithe  of  what  it  ought  to  be  doing  to  help  solve 
the  farm  problem.  The  church  is  apparently 
just  about  holding  its  own,  though  that  is  doubt- 
ed by  some  observers.  Rural  schools  are  not,  as 
a  rule,  keeping  pace  with  the  demands  being 
made  upon  them;  comparatively  few  students 
in  the  whole  country  are  studying  scientific 
agriculture.  Not  one  farmer  in  twenty  be- 
longs to  a  strong  farmers'  organization.  (2)  All 
these  institutions  are  awakening  to  the  situation. 
Progress  during  the  last  decade  has  been  espe- 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      235 

daily  gratifying.  Co-operative  efforts  among 
farmers  are  more  cautious,  but  more  successful. 
The  Grange  has  nearly  doubled  its  membership 
since  1890;  and  it,  as  well  as  other  farm  organi- 
zations, has  more  real  power  than  ever  before. 
The  rural-school  question  is  one  of  the  liveliest 
topics  today  among  farmers  as  well  as  educators. 
Opportunities  for  agricultural  education  have 
had  a  marvelous  development  within  a  decade. 
Discussion  about  rural  church  federation,  the 
rural  institutional  church,  rural  social  settle- 
ments, and  even  experiments  in  these  lines  are 
becoming  noticeably  frequent.  The  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  has,  its  officers 
think,  found  the  way  to  reach  the  country  young 
man. 

The  institutions  which  we  have  just  discussed, 
together  with  the  improvement  that  comes  from 
such  physical  agencies  as  assist  quicker  commu- 
nication (good  wagon  roads,  telephones,  rural 
mail  delivery,  electric  roads),  constitute  the 
social  forces  that  are  to  be  depended  upon  in  ru- 
ral betterment.  None  can  be  spared  or  ignored. 
The  function  of  each  must  be  understood  and 
its  importance  recognized.  To  imagine  that 
substantial  progress  can  result  from  the  empha- 
sis of  any  one  agency  to  the  exclusion  of  any 


236  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

other  is  a  mistake.  To  assert  this  is  not  to 
quarrel  with  the  statement  we  frequently  hear 
nowadays  that  "the  church  should  be  the  social 
and  intellectual  center  of  the  neighborhood;" 
or  that  "the  school  should  be  the  social  and 
intellectual  center  of  the  neighborhood;"  or 
that  "the  Grange  should  be  the  social  and  in- 
tellectual center  of  the  neighborhood."  It  is 
fortunate  that  these  statements  have  been  made. 
They  show  an  appreciation  of  a  function  of  these 
agencies  that  has  been  neglected.  The  first  item 
in  rural  social  progress  is  that  the  country 
preacher,  the  rural  teacher,  the  country  doctor, 
the  country  editor,  the  agricultural  editor,  the 
agricultural  college  professor,  and  especially  the 
farmer  himself,  shall  see  the  social  need  of  the 
farm  community.  But  to  assert,  for  instance, 
that  the  church  shall  be  the  social  center  of  that 
community  may  lead  to  a  partial  and  even  to  a 
fanatical  view  of  things.  I  would  not  restrain 
in  the  slightest  the  enthusiasm  of  any  pastor  who 
wants  to  make  his  church  occupy  a  central  posi- 
tion in  community  life,  nor  of  the  teacher  who 
wants  to  bring  her  school  into  relation  with  all 
the  economic  and  social  life  of  the  farm,  nor  of 
the  leader  of  the  farmers'  organization  who  sees 
the  good  that  may  be  done  through  the  social 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      237 

and  intellectual  training  which  his  organization 
can  give.  But  if  there  is  danger  that  the  preacher 
in  the  pursuit  of  this  ideal,  shall  ignore  the  social 
function  of  the  school  and  of  the  farmers'  organi- 
zation, or  that  the  teacher,  or  the  farmer,  or 
anybody  else  who  is  interested,  shall  fail  to  see 
that  there  is  a  logical  division  of  labor  among 
rural  social  forces,  and  that  it  is  only  the  intelli- 
gent and  efficient  and  harmonious  co-operation 
of  all  these  forces  that  will  insure  the  best  prog- 
ress, then  to  such  I  appeal  with  all  the  power  at 
my  command  to  recognize  not  only  the  breadth 
of  the  whole  movement,  but  to  appreciate  the 
limitations  of  their  own  special  interests.  There 
are  things  that  the  church  cannot  do  and  should 
not  attempt  to  do.  There  are  things  the  school 
cannot  do  and  should  not  attempt  to  do.  Ac- 
cepting our  conventional  division  of  social 
agencies,  we  may  say  that  efficient  rural  progress 
stands  upon  a  tripod  of  forces,  and  that  balance 
can  be  maintained  only  when  each  is  used  in  its 
proper  measure. 

We  reach  now  the  heart  of  the  topic,  which  is 
how  these  various  social  forces  may  be  brought 
into  co-operation — a  co-operation  that  is  intel- 
ligent and  real.  I  would  suggest,  first  of  all,  the 
encouragement  of  all  efforts  along  this  line  that 


238  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

are  already  under  way.  For  instance,  there  are 
scattered  all  over  this  country  individual  pastors 
who  are  seeking  to  make  their  churches  the 
social  and  intellectual  beacon-lights  of  the  com- 
munity. There  are  other  individuals  who  are 
endeavoring  to  apply  the  social-settlement  idea 
to  the  needs  of  the  country.  There  are  associa- 
tions which  attempt  to  bring  together  the 
teachers  and  the  school  patrons  for  mutual  dis- 
cussion of  educational  topics.  In  numerous 
instances  the  farmers'  organizations  include  in 
their  membership  the  country  pastor,  the  district 
school  teacher  and  perhaps  the  country  doctor. 
In  these  and  doubtless  in  other  ways  the  idea  we 
are  dealing  with  is  being  promulgated,  and  up  to 
a  certain  point  this  fact  of  promiscuous  initiative 
is  entirely  satisfactory  and  desirable.  So  long 
as  the  work  is  done  it  makes  little  difference  who 
does  it.  Every  attempt  to  bring  any  of  these 
agencies  into  closer  touch  with  the  farm  com- 
munity is  to  be  welcomed  most  heartily.  But 
beyond  a  certain  limit  this  promiscuous  work 
must  be  unsatisfactory.  The  efforts  and  in- 
terests of  any  one  social  agency  are  bound  to  be 
partial.  Indeed  the  more  effective  such  an 
agency  is,  the  more  partial  it  is  likely  to  be. 
Intensity  is  gained  at  the  expense  of  breadth. 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      239 

The  need  for  federation  exists  in  the  desirability 
of  securing  both  the  intensity  and  the  breadth. 

The  precise  method  of  securing  this  federa- 
tion of  effort  is  not  easy  to  foresee.  It  can  be 
determined  only  by  trial.  It  must  be  worked  out 
in  harmony  with  varying  conditions.  Some 
very  general  plans  at  once  suggest  themselves : 
(1)  Let  the  agricultural  college  in  each  state  take 
the  lead  in  the  movement,  acting  not  so  much 
as  an  organization  as  a  clearing-house  and  a  go- 
between.  Let  it  direct  conferences  on  the 
subject,  and  seek  to  bring  all  who  are  interested 
in  rural  affairs  into  touch  and  sympathy.  (2) 
Have  a  "League  for  Rural  Progress,"  made  up 
of  representatives  from  the  churches,  the  agri- 
cultural colleges,  the  departments  of  public 
instruction,  the  farm  press,  various  farmers' 
organizations,  etc.  (3)  Enlarge  the  "Hesperia 
movement,"  which  now  seeks  to  secure  co-opera- 
tion between  school  and  farmers'  organization, 
by  including  in  it  the  church. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  this  idea  of  a 
federation  of  rural  social  forces  is  getting  a 
foothold  and  has  indeed  already  crystallized 
into  organization.  A  brief  description  of  what 
has  actually  been  done  will  therefore  not  be  out 
of  place. 


240  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

So  far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  the  first  meeting 
based  on  the  definite  idea  of  co-operation  be- 
tween school,  church,  and  Grange  was  held  at 
Morris,  Connecticut,  in  the  summer  of  1901  and 
was  organized  by  Rev.  F.  A.  Holden,  then 
pastor  at  Morris.  This  meeting  was  a  very 
successful  local  affair,  held  in  connection  with 
"Old  Home  Week"  celebration. 

Probably  the  first  attempt  to  hold  a  similar 
meeting  op  a  large  scale  was  the  conference  at 
the  Agricultural  College,  Michigan,  in  February, 
1902.  It  was  a  joint  meeting  of  the  Michigan 
Political  Science  Association  and  the  Agri- 
cultural College  and  farmers'  institutes.  The 
practical  initiative  was  taken  by  the  Political 
Science  Association  under  the  leadership  of  its 
secretary,  Professor  Henry  C.  Adams,  who  had 
the  cordial  co-operation  of  President  Snyder  of 
the  Agricultural  College  and  Professor  C.  D. 
Smith,  then  superintendent  of  farmers'  institutes. 
It  was  a  notable  gathering,  and  its  promoters 
were  rejoiced  to  see  the  splendid  attendance  of 
farmers  particularly;  teachers  and  clergymen 
did  not  attend  as  freely  as  might  have  been 
expected.  The  programme  was  a  strong  one 
and  included  men  of  national  reputation  and 
topics  covering  a  wide  range  of  interests. 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      241 

The  addresses  were  published  in  the  Michigan 
Farmers''  Institute  Bulletin  for  1901-02,  and 
were  also  gathered  into  a  publication  of  the 
Michigan  Political  Science  Association  under 
the  title  Social  Problems  oj  the  Farmer. 

The  state  of  Rhode  Island  has  organized  on 
a  permanent  basis.  In  1904  there  was  held 
in  Kingston,  at  the  College  of  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts,  a  "Conference  on  Rural  Prog- 
ress." It  was  a  one-day  meeting,  well  attended 
by  representative  farmers,  clergymen,  and  edu- 
cators. A  committee  was  appointed  to  discuss 
further  procedure,  and  the  next  year  there  was 
held  in  the  halls  of  Brown  University  a  two-days' 
conference.  The  programme  included  addresses 
on:  The  Grange,  The  Country  Church,  School 
Gardens,  and  several  phases  of  practical 
agriculture.  Among  the  speakers  were  the 
assistant  secretary  of  agriculture,  Hon.  N.  J. 
Bachelder,  now  Master  of  the  National  Grange, 
and  Dr.  Josiah  Strong. 

In  the  spring  of  1906  there  was  organized 
"The  Rhode  Island  League  for  Rural  Progress," 
which  was  constituted  through  representation 
from  the  following  organizations:  State  Board 
of  Agriculture;  Rhode  Island  College  of  Agri- 
culture;   State  Federation  of  Churches;    State 


242  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

Grange;  State  Association  of  School  Superin- 
tendents; State  League  of  Improvement  Socie- 
ties; Washington  County  Agricultural  Society; 
Newport  Agricultural  Society;  Rhode  Island 
Horticultural  Society;  Newport  Horticultural 
Society;  Rhode  Island  Poultry  Association; 
Florists  and  Gardeners'  Club;  Kingston  Im- 
provement Association. 

This  league  held  the  Third  Annual  Confer- 
ence on  Rural  Progress,  April  10  and  it,  1906, 
the  first  day's  session  being  at  Brown  University, 
Providence,  and  the  second  day's  at  East  Green- 
wich. Its  fourth  meeting  was  held  in  Newport 
in  March,  1907.  In  Rhode  Island  the  idea  lying 
back  of  this  conference  has  certainly  approved 
itself  to  all  who  are  interested  in  rural  matters. 

The  following  is  the  constitution  of  the 
league : 

CONSTITUTION 
Rhode  Island  League  for  Rural  Progress 

I.  Name. — The  name  of  this  body  shall  be  the  "  Rhode 
Island  League  for  Rural  Progress." 

II.  Object. — The  object  of  the  League  shall  be  to 
secure  the  co-operation  of  the  various  individuals,  organi- 
zations, and  agencies  which  are  working  for  any  phase 
of  rural  advancement  in  this  state. 

III.  Membership. — Any  organization  interested  in 
rural  advancement,  which  may  desire  to  co-operate  with 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      243 

the  work  of  the  League,  may  be  represented  in  the 
League. 

Any  individual  in  the  state  interested  in  rural  progress 
may  become  a  member  of  the  League  upon  the  payment 
of  one  dollar  annual  fee. 

IV.  Officers. — The  administrative  work  of  the 
League  shall  be  conducted  by  a  council,  to  be  composed 
of  one  delegate  from  each  organization  represented  in  the 
League,  to  serve  until  superseded.  The  council  at  the 
time  of  each  annual  conference  shall  choose  from  among 
its  members  a  president,  a  vice-president,  and  a  secretary- 
treasurer,  and  these  officers  shall  act  as  an  executive 
committee. 

V.  Meetings. — The  meetings  of  the  League  shall  be 
held  at  the  call  of  the  executive  committee.  There 
shall,  however,  be  at  least  one  annual  Conference  on 
rural  progress  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  League. 

VI.  Finances. — The  funds  necessary  to  forward  the 
work  of  the  League  may  come  from  three  sources: 

a)  Contributions  made  by  organizations  belonging 
to  the  League  and  represented  on  the  council,  such  con- 
tributions to  be  voluntary  and  in  such  amount  as  the 
respective  organizations  may  designate.  The  council 
may,  however,  make  up  a  schedule  of  desired  contribu- 
tions from  the  various  organizations  and  present  it  to  the 
different  organizations. 

b)  Membership  fees  from  individual  members,  $1.00 
per  year  from  each  member. 

c)  Private  subscriptions. 

Probably  the  first  successful  attempt  to  organ- 
ize a  permanent  league  for  rural  progress  was 


244  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

accomplished  in  1904  through  the  efforts  of  Rev. 
G.  T.  Nesmith,  of  Hebron,  111.  It  was  called 
"The  McHenry  County  Federation,"  and  has 
held  three  annual  meetings  and  seems  to  be 
on  a  solid  basis.  Mr.  Nesmith  has  endeavored 
to  keep  the  purpose  of  the  league  on  a  high 
plane  by  endeavoring  to  state  clearly  the  object 
of  the  federation,  which  is,  "that  the  people  of 
McHenry  County  might  have  life,  and  have  it 
more  abundantly,  and  this  life  was  not  to  be  a 
narrow  life.  It  was  the  largest  aggregate  and 
highest  symmetry  of  the  sixfold  ends  of  indi- 
vidual and  community  action,  viz.,  health, 
wealth,  knowledge,  sociability,  beauty,  and 
righteousness."  He  also  endeavored  to  make 
it  clear  that  "the  federation  does  not  seek  to 
supplant  the  other  forces.  It  rather  seeks  to 
be  a  clearing-house  of  the  ideas  of  all  the  feder- 
ated organizations;  to  be  a  mount  of  vision 
from  which  each  may  look  and  get  a  complete 
vision  of  life;  to  be  a  fraternal  bond  which 
shall  link  all  together  in  common  ties  of  sympa- 
thy, fellowship,  and  co-operation." 

The  results  thus  far  obtained  are  perhaps 
best  described  by  quoting  the  words  of  Mr.  G. 
W.  Conn,  Jr.,  superintendent  of  schools  of 
McHenry  County: 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      245 

There  is  one  noticeable  omission  in  the  constitution — 
a  provision  for  the  proper  financing  of  the  federation. 
This  is  partially  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  federa- 
tion has  largely  centered  about  the  county  Teachers' 
Association  and  the  county  Farmers'  Institute,  organi- 
zations that  are  supported  in  a  financial  way  by  the 
county  and  the  state  appropriations.  These  appropria- 
tions, in  addition  to  some  voluntary  gifts,  have  been 
sufficient  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  meetings. 

I  think  that  I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  interest 
and  also  the  attendance  has  probably  increased 
100  per  cent,  at  each  session.  Each  year  has  also 
seen  a  much  larger  percentage  of  our  local  men  and 
women  helping  out  on  the  programme.  It  is  a  little 
early  in  its  history  to  expect  much  evidence  of  material 
results,  but  I  believe  that  results  are  already  putting  in 
an  appearance,  especially  from  the  esthetic  standpoint. 
Without  doubt  more  trees  have  been  planted  about  the 
country  homes  and  along  the  country  roadsides  of  this 
county  than  in  any  two  preceding  years.  In  a  great 
many  places  roads  have  been  cleaned.  Refuse  and 
weeds  have  been  removed  and  burned.  Landscape 
gardening  on  a  simple  scale  is  putting  in  an  appearance 
in  places  where  it  was  little  expected.  The  naming  of 
farms  is  another  feature  that  is  rapidly  growing.  Boys' 
country  clubs  are  being  formed  and  this  year,  for  the 
first  time,  three  of  these  clubs  met  with  the  federation, 
had  a  banquet,  and  formed  a  county  organization. 

Of  course  not  all  of  these  movements  are  rightfully  to 
be  attributed  to  the  direct  influence  of  the  county  federa- 
tion. The  public  schools  of  the  county  have  been  largely 
instrumental  in  stirring  the  public  conscience  to  a  livelier 


246  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

appreciation  of  the  beautiful.  The  regular  observance 
of  Arbor  and  Bird  Days  in  our  schools  has  done  much 
toward  initiating  this  movement.  However,  the  federa- 
tion has  been  the  great  factor  in  uniting  otherwise  inde- 
pendent organizations  into  one  large  machine  for  stirring 
the  social  consciousness  and  molding  public  sentiment. 
It  has  proved  to  be  an  efficient  association  in  at  least  three 
ways,  in  co-ordinating  our  efforts,  harmonizing  our 
methods,  and  broadening  the  field  of  operation. 

The  constitution  of  this  league  is  given  here- 
with in  full: 

1.  Name. — The  name  of  this  organization  shall  be, 
The  McHenry  County  Federation  of  Rural  Forces. 

2.  Object. — The  object  of  the  Federation  is  to  gain 
a  higher  symmetry  and  a  larger  aggregate  of  health, 
wealth,  knowledge,  sociability,  beauty,  and  righteous- 
ness to  the  citizens  of  McHenry  County. 

3.  Elements  of  the  Federation. — The  Federa- 
tion shall  consist  of  the  following  organizations:  The 
Farmers'  Institute,  Teachers'  Association,  Domestic 
Science  Association,  Pastors'  Association,  Women's 
Christian  Temperance  Union,  and  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association. 

4.  Membership. — Any  county  organization  may  be- 
come a  member  of  the  federation  by  recommendation  of 
the  Executive  Committee. 

5.  Officers. — The  officers  of  the  Federation  shall 
consist  of  a  president,  as  many  vice-presidents  as  there 
are  component  organizations,  a  secretary-treasurer,  and 
an  Executive  Committee. 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      247 

6.  Committees. — The  Executive  Committee  shall  be 
composed  of  the  president,  the  secretary-treasurer,  and 
the  presidents  of  the  component  organizations. 

There  shall  be  an  Auditing  Committee  and  a  Committee 
on  Resolutions,  each  consisting  of  three  members  and 
to  be  appointed  by  the  president. 

The  Nominating  Committee  shall  consist  of  two 
members  from  each  of  the  component  organizations  and 
they  shall  be  appointed  by  the  president. 

7.  Duties. — The  Executive  Committee  shall  select 
the  date  and  fix  the  place  of  every  meeting.  They  shall 
also  prepare  the  programme. 

The  presidents  of  the  component  organizations  shall 
be  ex-officio  vice-presidents  of  the  Federation. 

8.  Auditing. — All  bills  shall  be  paid  by  the  treasurer 
after  the  same  have  been  countersigned  by  the  Auditing 
Committee. 

9.  Term  of  Office. — The  terms  of  all  officers  shall 
be  one  year  or  until  their  successors  are  elected. 

10.  How  Elected. — All  officers  shall  be  elected  by 
ballot. 

The  Massachusetts  Conference  for  Town  and 
Village  Betterment  has  dealt  with  some  phases  of 
the  federation  idea.  Its  object  is  "to  contribute 
to  the  formation  of  a  strong,  definite,  and  united 
purpose  among  the  forces  working  for  the  im- 
provement of  civic  and  social  conditions  in 
Massachusetts,  by  bringing  together  all  town 
and    village    improvement    societies,    citizen's 


248  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

associations,  civic  clubs,  and  other  organizations 
interested  in  this  purpose." 

The  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  in 
celebrating  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  its  open- 
ing to  students,  October  2,  1907,  held  a  four 
days'  conference  on  rural  progress.  The  pro- 
gramme covered  nearly  the  whole  field  of  rural 
development  and  was  made  possible  by  the  co- 
operation of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  the 
State  Grange,  the  Massachusetts  Civic  League, 
the  Connecticut  Valley  Congregational  Club, 
the  State  Committee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the 
Western  Massachusetts  Library  Club,  and  the 
Head-Masters'  Club  of  the  Connecticut  Valley. 
No  permanent  organization  was  formed,  but  the 
general  idea  of  federation  of  rural  social  forces 
was  fully  emphasized  and  thoroughly  appre- 
ciated. 

An  attempt  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1907 
to  bring  together  the  various  elements  of  rural 
progress  in  all  the  New  England  states.  Under 
the  initiative  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Board 
of  Agriculture  there  was  held  in  March,  1907,  a 
New  England  Conference  on  Rural  Progress. 
This  meeting  was  held  very  largely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discovering  the  sentiment  among  the 
leaders  of  New  England  agriculture  with  re- 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      249 

spect  to  the  desirability  and  practicability  of 
federating  on  so  large  a  scale.  In  addition  to 
the  main  meeting,  the  presidents  of  the  agricul- 
tural colleges  of  New  England  were  called  to- 
gether in  a  special  section,  and  the  same  was 
true  of  the  directors  of  the  New  England  ex- 
periment stations,  the  masters  of  the  various 
state  granges,  the  secretaries  of  the  various  state 
boards  of  agriculture,  and  the  leaders  in  the 
New  England  Federation  of  Churches. 

The  idea  of  federation  was  clearly  approved 
by  the  delegates  present,  and  a  temporary  or- 
ganization was  effected.  It  was  voted  to  hold 
a  similar  conference  in  Boston  in  the  spring  of 
1908. 

It  is  probably  true  that  the  first  and  most 
important  step  in  bringing  about  a  federation  of 
rural  social  forces  is  to  educate  all  concerned 
to  the  desirability  of  such  a  federation — to  sow 
the  seeds  of  the  idea.  So  far  as  machinery  is 
concerned  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  form  any 
new  organization.  Indeed,  what  is  chiefly 
necessary  is  a  sort  of  clearing-house  for  an 
exchange  of  ideas  and  plans  among  all  who  are 
at  work  on  any  phase  of  the  rural  social  problem. 
There  is  need  of  a  central  bureau  that  shall 
emphasize  the  necessity  of  a  study  of  agricul- 


250  CHAPTERS  IN  RURAL  PROGRESS 

tural  economics  and  rural  sociology,  and  press 
the  value  of  co-operation  in  the  work  of  social 
progress  in  the  country.  There  is  need  that 
somewhere  "tab"  shall  be  kept  on  the  whole 
rural  social  movement.  We  need  a  directing 
force  to  assure  a  comprehensive  view  and  study 
of  the  whole  rural  problem.  It  is  important 
that  some  investigations  should  be  carried  on 
that  are  not  likely  to  be  taken  up  by  some  other 
agency.  It  would  be  desirable  to  have  a  certain 
amount  of  publication,  and  in  various  other 
ways  to  carry  on  a  campaign  of  education. 
Above  all,  it  would  be  desirable  to  initiate  local, 
state,  and  national  conferences  pervaded  by  the 
spirit  and  purpose  of  securing  the  hearty  co- 
operation of  all  rural  social  forces,  of  all  the 
organizations  that  have  any  rural  connection 
whatever,  and  of  all  individuals  who  have  the 
slightest  genuine  interest  in  any  phase  of  the 
farm  problem. 

Such  a  bureau  should  keep  in  constant  touch 
with,  secure  the  confidence  of,  and  supply 
appropriate  literature  to,  country  teachers, 
preachers,  editors,  doctors,  and  business  men, 
and,  more  than  all,  to  intelligent  and  progressive 
farmers.  And  let  me  add  at  this  point,  that  it 
must  be  fully  understood  that  the  work  con- 


FEDERATION  FOR  RURAL  PROGRESS      251 

templated  cannot  possibly  achieve  large  success 
unless  it  is  done  with  the  farmers,  rather  than 
for  the  farmers.  The  problem  is  far  from  that 
of  doing  a  missionary  work  for  a  down-trodden 
and  ignorant  class.  It  is  a  much  less  heroic,  a 
much  more  commonplace  task.  It  is  simply 
carrying  the  idea  of  co-operation  of  individuals 
a  step  farther,  and  endeavoring  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  interests  that  have  precisely  the 
same  goal,  although  traveling  upon  different 
roads.  The  prime  purpose  of  the  movement  is 
to  bring  the  specialist  into  close  touch  with  the 
more  general  phases  of  the  problem,  to  secure 
breadth  and  wholeness,  to  assure  well-balanced 
effort. 

[Note. — A  paper  with  the  title  of  this  chapter  was  read 
before  the  American  Civic  Association  in  1901,  at  Minne- 
apolis. A  portion  of  the  paper  is  retained  here.  The  history 
of  the  development  of  the  idea  of  federation  is  brought  down 
to  the  present  time.] 


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